The Force Unleashed
by Grubkiller19
Summary: Darth Vader has a secret apprentice. His mission is to destroy the enemies of the Lord Vader, and he must prove himself worthy to rule the galaxy besides his master. But he must first contend with the Jedi Purge survivors who are now leading a growing rebellion against the Empire.
1. Part 1-The Apprentice

**Have no fear, Grubkiller is here.**

**This is a story that I've been wanting to do for a while. **

**It's a version of The Force Unleashed that I wanted to combine with Star Wars Rebels. I hope that you all enjoy it. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars, and much of this material was inspired by George Lucus, Sean Williams, Dave Filoni, and people more talented than me. I just wanted to combine Force Unleashed and Star Wars rebels in some way. So Disney, please don't sue me.**

**Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy.**

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_Lord Vader's private chamber, Fortress Vader, Mustafar_.

"You were weak when I found you."

The voice seemed to come from the far end of a long, deep tunnel

The Life of Darth Vader's secret student took a strange and deadly turn the day this day.

He'd had no warning that a moment of such significance was approaching. During his nightly meditation, kneeling on the metal floor of his chamber while construction droids and Imperial Stormtroopers expanded the palace grounds, unaware of his existence, he had seen no visions in the pure, angry red of the lightsaber that was being held like a burning brand in front of his eyes. Although he had stared until the world vanished and the dark side flowed through him in a bloody tide, the future had remained closed.

Nothing, therefore, prepared him for the sudden deviation from the day's punishing and unpredictable exercises. His Master was not a patient teacher; neither was he a talkative one. He preferred action to debate, just as he preferred recrimination to reward. Never once in all the days thy had sparred together, with lightsaber, telekinesis, or suggestion, had the Dark Lord offered a single word of encouragement. And that was as it should be, he knew. A teacher's job was not to drag a student along a single, well-worn path. Rather it was to let the student forge their own way through the forest, intervening only when the student was hopelessly lost and needed to be corrected.

Even on the wrong paths, he knew, lay some wisdom.

He knelt before his Master and prepared for the killing strike. He could feel the wrath radiating from the Dark Lord like heat. And for a moment that seemed to stretch for years, all he could hear was the regular, implacable respiration that kept the man inside the mask alive.

"You should never have survived my training."

He closed his eyes. He had heard these words before. They were the closest thing to a bedtime story he'd ever had as a child. The great moral he had taken each time was burned into his mind: _Learn . . . or die_.

The lightsaber drifted so close to his neck that he could smell his hair burning.

"But now, your hatred has become your strength." The saber retreated. With a hiss it deactivated. "At last, the dark side is your ally."

His Master's next words made his heart trip a beat.

"Rise, my apprentice."

_Apprentice_. So he had always been, in everything but name.

The Apprentice stood up, Vader's large black shape looming over him. His mask unreadable, limned with crimson from the light of the lava rivers below that were shining through the wide viewport. He kept his eyes up and his voice low.

"What is your will, my Master?"

"You have defeated many of my rivals. Your training is nearly complete. It is time now to face your first true test."

A roll call of past missions sped through the apprentice's mind. He had been sent out to dispatch many enemies of the Empire, including spies and thieves, and the occasional high-ranking traitor as well. But Vader wasn't talking about some filthy lowlife. He could sense it in his words, that there was only one foe worthy to fight him now.

"Your spies have located a Jedi?"

"Yes. Master Rahm Kota." Vader said as excitement began to fill the apprentice at the thought of killing a traditional enemy of the Sith. "He is attacking a critical Imperial shipyard above Nar Shadda. Destroy him and bring me his lightsaber."

"I shall leave at once, Master."

He had taken barely a step toward the door when Darth Vader's domineering voice stopped him. "The Emperor cannot discover you."

"As you wish, my master."

"Leave no witnesses. Kill everyone aboard that gets in your way, Imperials and insurgents alike."

The apprentice nodded, keeping his sudden uncertainty carefully clouded.

"Do not fail in this."

The lightsaber hanging back t his hip was a comforting, reassuring weight. "No, my lord," he said, back straight and voice firm.

Darth Vader turned away and gripped his hands behind his back. The red landscape painted his helmet with lava highlights. Thus dismissed, his secret apprentice hurried about his latest, darkest duty.

* * *

The Apprentice hurried through the warren connecting his Master's secret chambers to the secret hanger bay that had long been written out of the Fortress's blueprints, and would remain unknown to any future Imperial personnel.

_The Emperor cannot discover you_.

This was all apart of the masterplan that has been in the works for his entire life. What he has been brutally trained for since he was a mere child. The destruction of the Emperor, and rule the galaxy as Master and Apprentice.

But first, he had to survive the encounter with the Jedi. A few had survived the Great Jedi Purge at the end of the Clone Wars, when their undeserved privilege was rightfully stripped from them. But the Dark Side infiltrated every corner of the galaxy; nothing could remain hidden forever.

_General Rahm Kota_.

The name didn't quite ring a bell, but he would just do research on the way to Nar Shadda.

Entering the hanger bay, he wound his way through the familiar maze of crates, weapons racks, and star-fighter parts. The ambient lighting was dim, with shadows pooling in every corner. The air tasted of metal and ozone, both of which had become all too familiar to the apprentice, growing up in this very palace.

_Leave no witnesses. Kill everyone aboard, Imperials and insurgents alike_.

Even as he mulled over this new development, a familiar _snap-hiss_ sounded to his right and glowing blue-white blade sprang into life in a dark corner of the hanger.

"Hello there."

A brown-robed figure ran forward, weapon raised.

Instantly in a fighting crouch, the apprentice brought his own blade up to block the blow, teeth bared in a delighted snarl.

He and his adversary held the pose for a bare second, lightsabers locked across their chests. The apprentice quickly sized up the being who had attacked him. Human male, fair-skinned and bearded, with calm, serious eyes and a firm set to his jaw. Anyone within living memory of the Clone Wars - or possessing free access to the Jedi archives - would have recognized him immediately as Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Member of the Jedi Council, High General of the GAR, and master of the Soresu form of lightsaber combat.

Obi-Wan slid his deadly blade down and to the right, ducking at the same time to avoid the inevitable counter-sweep. Sparks flew as the Apprentice Force leapt high into the air and landed with perfect agility on top of a stack of crates. He reached out with his cupped left hand and swept a metal tool kit across the hanger bay, toward his opponent's head. Kenobi ducked and leapt up after him, deflecting a flurry of blows that would have left an ordinary man in pieces, then responding with a sweep of his own that sent the Apprentice dodging backward jumping from one stack of crates to another in temporary retreat.

The duel proceeded for almost a minute, with Kenobi and the apprentice dancing like acrobatic Gados from stack to stack, lightsabers spinning and clashing, racks and tools turned into temporary weapons as the hurled themselves from one to the other. Then, Kenobi slashed a new rip in the sleeve of the apprentice's combat suit with a move that would have taken his arm off at the elbow had he not moved in time.

But the Jedi had overreached, allowing the apprentice to launch a well timed force push the sent Kenobi falling to the deck below. But before he could get back up, Starkiller jumped from the crate and plunged his blade straight into the chest of the Jedi, finishing the job.

But then, the old man's body began to spark and flicker like a hologram - which was actually the case. The arms, legs, torso, and face all dissolved, revealing the bipedal form of a droid beneath.

"Ah, master. Another excellent duel." The droid said.

"You caught me by surprise, PROXY," Starkiller said with an easy affection that belied his former ferocity. "I haven't fought that training program in years. I assumed you'd erased it."

The droid struggled to stand, but succeeded only losing his balance and almost falling again, before Starkiller caught him in time and helped straighten him.

"Easy, PROXY. You're malfunctioning."

"It's my fault, master," the droid said with an electronic sigh, looking down at the smoking hole in his chest. "I had hoped that using an older training module would catch you off guard and allow me to finally kill you. I'm sorry I failed you again."

A concerned smile flickered across Starkiller's face. I'm sure you'll keep trying."

"Of course, master. It is my primary programming."

The droid and master began moving through the maze of debris across the hanger. "Well, you won't be ambushing me again until we get your central stabilizer replaced - and that could take weeks, this far out from the Core . . ."

But then Starkiller stopped himself. He saw his ship, the _Rogue Shadow_, sitting in the hanger bay. But it wasn't the ship that caught his attention. It was the person working on it.

A woman specifically, with gorgeous blonde hair, a beautiful face, along with an attractive frame that went well with both. She was using her plasma torch to weld something onto the top of the ship. She didn't appear to notice the stunned apprentice, who then pulled his droid out of sight.

"PROXY..." Starkiller said as he pushed his droid against the container.

"Why are we whispering?" The confused droid asked.

"...who is that?" The apprentice asked, nodding in the direction of the girl.

"Ah, yes. Your new pilot has finally arrived, master."

"But who _is_ she?"

"Accessing Imperial records . . ."

PROXY began to change form, and a new hologram formed over his metal body, to reveal the very blonde woman that was working on his ship. He became stunned by her features again before the droid began to speak in the woman's clipped voice.

"Captain Juno Eclipse," said the droid. "Born on Corulag, where she became the youngest student ever accepted into the Imperial Academy. Decorated combat pilot with over one hundred combat missions and commanding officer during the Bombing of Callos. Handpicked by Lord Vader to lead his Black Eight Squadron, but later reassigned to a top-secret project-".

"Is there a psychological profile in there, too?" Asked the same voice.

But it didn't come from PROXY's imitation. The pilot herself, with her arms crossed, and wearing a stern look. Her clothes were unkept, and dirty from the maintenance she performed on the ship. Her Imperial navy uniform was unzipped, revealing a form-fitting tank-top underneath, which hugged her frame quite nicely.

Starkiller and PROXY stared back at her. With a look of barely concealed embarrassment, a slightly flushed Starkiller let go of the droid and stepped away. PROXY wobbled on his feet, and then snapped to attention in a fair imitation of her - complete with neat blond hair, regulation uniform, and tricolored insignia. But he updated his image files to unzip her uniform, mess up her hair slightly, and form a smudge of grease on 'her' cheek.

"Actually, yes," PROXY told her, "but it's restricted." To Starkiller as an aside he added, "Oh, Master, I can tell you that she's going to be impossible to reprogram."

Starkiller could feel Juno's anger flare up slightly, suppressing an urge to take her welding tool and ram another hole through PROXY's chest.

He gestured to PROXY, who finally dropped his simulation and went back to being just a droid. "You know why you're here?" Starkiller asked her.

The girl uncrossed her arms and lowered the torch. Then she took a deep breath. "Lord Vader gave me my orders himself," she said. "I am to keep your ship running and fly you wherever your missions require."

Starkiller seemed neither pleased nor displeased. "PROXY," he instructed the droid, "get the _Rogue Shadow_ ready to launch."

PROXY went aboard, while his master and Juno followed behind at a slower pace.

"Did Lord Vader tell you that he killed our last pilot?"

Juno studied him as closely as he was _obviously_ studying her. His shredded combat uniform and the mess of scars on his arms told her that he has been through the wringer, which was a preview to what she was in for. "No. But I can only assume he gave Lord Vader good cause to do so." She paused, then added," I will not."

"We'll see. I'm sick of training new pilots." His eyes slid past her to where she had been working on the _Rogue Shadow_. His brows crinkled on seeing the new panels she had welded into place. "What have you done to my ship?"

"I have taken the liberty of upgrading the _Rogue Shadow_'s sensor array. Now you will be able to spy on any suspect ships across an entire system." She waited for some sign of approval, but he only nodded. Her pride slightly stung, she said, "I assume that's part of your mission profile. You are one of Vader's spies?"

"You don't need to know anything about my missions except where I'm going."

"Where _are_ we going?"

"To Nar Shadda. Can you handle that?"

Juno brushed past Starkiller, trying to suppress an angry retort, and walked up the ramp. "Of course."

Starkiller watched her walk inside the ship, his eyes drifting down to her hourglass frame, letting out an exhale. What was his master up to? He had never worked with a female before.

This had to be a test of some kind.

He then walked inside the ship, just as it took off, flying over the molten landscape of Mustafar.

It was time to hunt down the hated enemy of the Sith Order.

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**Well folks, that was part 1 of this story.**

**Hope that you all enjoyed.**

**Part 2 will be Starkiller's mission to kill General Kota. **

**Until then, Grubkiller out.**


	2. Part 2-TIE Fighter Factory

**Hey folks, Grubkiller here.**

**Here's part 2 of this story**

**Enjoy.**

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_Rogue Shadow, in orbit above Mustafar_.

Built by Sienar Fleet Systems, the _Rogue Shadow_'s design was based on the _Scimitar_, Darth Maul's Sith Infiltrator. It also shared certain design elements with other Imperial craft, such as the Eta-2 interceptor and the starfighters of the TIE series. Designed and built in secret, all of the personnel and droids involved in the _Rogue Shadow_'s construction were killed, thus ensuring their silence, while the causes of their deaths were described as "industrial accidents" and street crimes.

The _Rogue Shadow_ boasted an advanced hyperdrive, cutting-edge sensory arrays, a fully functional medical bay, crew quarters, a workshop and a meditation chamber that could double as a training room. It also had the fastest sublight drives in the Imperial Navy. In addition to these high tech features, the _Rogue Shadow_ was outfitted with an experimental cloaking device that enabled the vessel to hide from even the most powerful scanners for short periods of time. Its cloaking technology was powered by a rare stygium crystal, a form of lightsaber crystal from the Dreighton Nebula that could warp perceptions around it.

Its sub-light engines surged with smooth acceleration as its new pilot deftly manipulated the controls. The apprentice watched her closely as she worked, assessing her qualifications as well as her... _other_ qualities. Of the pilots he had worked with so far, none had been women. She was barely his age and very beautiful with it, but in the pilot's seat she was a consummate professional. Confident and precise, she moved as though she had been born in a cockpit.

Once he was certain that he and PROXY were in safe hands, he turned his attention to the details of his mission.

"PROXY, give me the target."

The droid who had been his sole continuous companion for most of his life was sitting in a jump seat at the rear of the cockpit, strapped carefully in place. Familiar distortions played across his metal features as he activated the holoprojectors that made him unique. The appearance of a hardened human warrior took form. Dressed in the familiar brown of the hated Jedi, along with some silver armor plates, he possessed high cheekbones and a strong, broken nose. His eyes were deeply recessed and revealed none of his thoughts.

"According to official Imperial records," PROXY said in a deep, commanding voice that was nothing like his own, "Jedi Master Rahm Kota was a respected general in the Clone Wars."

"The Clone Wars?" Juno half turned at the controls as she prepared the ship for its jump through hyperspace, with a serious expression on her face. "You're hunting Jedi."

The apprentice hadn't realized she was paying attention. "I bring Darth Vader's enemies to justice," he told her. "And now so do you." Before she could initiate a full-on discussion about it, apprentice said, "Go on, PROXY."

"Of course. Master Kota was a military genius, but did not believe that the clone soldiers were fit for battle. Instead he relied on a unit of his own personally trained troopers. A militia of mercenaries, volunteers, and even former POWs from Separatist space. It's the only thing that kept him from being executed when the Emperor discovered the Jedi's plot against the Republic."

Juno nodded. "So, there were no clones in his squad to bring him to justice, once Order 66 was issued."

"Exactly, Captain Eclipse. And after Order 66, he vanished. Imperial records actually claim he's dead."

The hologram faded and PROXY returned to normal.

Juno still appeared more interested in the mission then plotting the hyperspace jump. "So why come out of hiding and attack the Empire now?"

The apprentice had been considering that very question himself. "Kota wants to be found."

"Then we are walking into a trap." She looked from the apprentice to PROXY and back again. "How many pilots have you lost before me?"

"Seven."

"Oh, excellent." She flipped a switch on the _Rogue Shadow's_ complicated console. "Coordinates for Nar Shadda are locked. Prepare for light speed."

The apprentice braced himself as the stars ahead turned into streaks and the familiar unreal tunnel opened up around the ship. With a well-tuned whine, the _Rogue Shadow _and its passengers rocketed into hyperspace.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

_Liberation, former Republic star destroyer, operating in the Y'Toub system_.

Nar Shadda.

The Smuggler's Moon. The Vertical City.

Or even Little Coruscant: most of the former Republic officers serving under General Kota had never been here before, but they had learned as much as they could from history holos. Its criminal classes and extensive underground networks were famous across the galaxy, with lowlifes by the tens of thousands flocking there in search of ill-gotten fortunes. Although dwarfed by the noisome Nal Hutta, the large planet it orbited, it outshone every other world in the Y'Toub system in every conceivable spectrum. Dozens of different species called it home.

But the men and women of the _Liberation_, a heavily modified Jedi cruiser with extra armor plating and more gun emplacements, were not here for this wretched hive of scum and villainy. Rather, they were here for what orbited it.

A massive Tie-fighter factory.

These factories were constructed throughout the galaxy to maintain and build up the Empire's massive war machine and typically hung in low orbit above a planet. They were owned and operated by Sienar Fleet Systems, though ultimate ownership laid with the Empire.

Destroying this facility would weaken the Empire's already precarious position in the Outer Rim, and allow the oppressed people to rise up and take up arms.

So Captain Shack, an aging man with a stern beard to go along with his grizzled features, watched as his aging warship hammered away at the Imperial frigates and Golan defense platforms that protected the stations.

The deck shook below him as the _Liberation's_ main battery cut loose with a powerful broadside, which caused orange and red explosions to blossom on the hulls of two _Arquitens_-class light cruisers that were on either side of the ship. As the two frigates spun out of control, four proton torpedoes cut through the vacuum-less void to slam into a Golan defense platform.

As the modified Venator made short work of the factory's small defense fleet, swarms of Z-95 Headhunters engaged in dogfights with Imperial Tie Fighters all around the station, while Y-Wing bombers hammered the factory's point-defense guns, clearing the way for more of Kota's men to board the station.

But suddenly, a new ship jumped out of hyperspace right over the bridge viewport and rocketed towards the station.

"What the hell was that?" The captain called out.

"We don't know sir. But we can't pick it up on our scopes. It must have a cloaking device."

"Send word to General Kota, immediately. We gotta let him know what's coming."

* * *

_Tie Fighter factory, command center_.

"Blast them!"

"Get to cover!"

"Hold the Line!"

Red and blue blaster bolts crisscrossed back and forth down the corridor that led to the factory's command deck. A squad of Imperial Stormtroopers were protecting the bulkhead door, desperately trying to hold off the Insurgent invaders.

But one by one, the troopers fell to Insurgent fire, as well as, thanks to a green lightsaber, there own.

"Sir, we can't hold this position much longer, we don't have enough men!" One trooper shouted over the sound of blaster fire.

"Just keep firing! If we lose the command center, then our forces lose contact with one another, and this situation gets worse in a hurry!" The squad leader shouted.

The remaining troopers kept firing.

But that's when the Jedi leading the charge used the force to throw a large object down the corridor.

"Oh Stang!" One trooper exclaimed just before the object crushed them against the bulkhead door, which it smashed through.

Everyone in the command center looked up in horror as the Jedi, a human male wearing a combination of Jedi robes and light combat armor, jumped through the demolished door and just started hacking away at the Imperial troopers inside. He was followed by a squadron of Spec Ops Insurgents, who rushed in and blasted everyone in the command center. Most of the Imperial crewmen were killed while still in their seats.

Kota finished off the last trooper by slashing at his torso. The trooper screamed and fell to his knees. That's when Kota walked passed him and swung his blade into a reverse grip before he plunged it into the severely injured trooper, who gave one final scream of pain before dying. That's when Kota withdrew his blade, causing the trooper to collapse to the deck.

When the command center was cleared, the militia troopers gathered around Kota, awaiting his orders.

"Lock down the command center and get that hologram projector up and running," Kota ordered.

"Yes sir, " one trooper said before he ran off.

Kota then turned to his other officers. "Tell all squads to fan out and funnel any opposition towards us".

"Right away, General."

Kota then turned to the hologram of the demolitions team. "Explosive charges on levels two, five, and twelve, just like we planned".

"Aye Sir," the demo-team's leader said as he snapped off a salute, before his holo-image disappeared.

"_General Kota_," a voice said from behind Kota. He turned around to see a hologram of Captain Shack. He was next to a hologram of a ship of some kind. "_Sir, he's here"._

Kota studied the hologram of the ship that was coming in.

"I've finally drawn you out of hiding," Kota said under his breath.

"_Shall I divert a squadron of fighters to intercept that ship, General_?" Shack asked.

"No captain. I want your ships to keep up the pressure outside," Kota said. Shack nodded and gave a salute before his hologram disappeared.

Kota looked around to the men inside the command center.

"Lower the containment field on hanger twelve," Kota said. "And tell our men to get into position."

"Yes, General." The soldier said before he left the room to join the men in the hanger. It was time to hunt down a Sith.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

_Rogue Shadow, Y'Toub system, en route to Tie-fighter construction facility_.

As the Rogue Shadow approached Nar Shadda, the apprentice couldn't hide a contemptuous sneer. Notorious for changing allegiances, the criminal capital was currently courting Imperial favor by inviting - or at least tolerating - the presence of a new TIE fighter manufacturing facility in its upper atmosphere. He could imagine the reasoning behind it: more money and resources flowing into the system; a new source of 'legitimate' jobs for those few who required them; an influx of potentially corrupt officials to bribe. Sad for the locals, then, that the facility was staffed entirely by humans, with security maintained by Imperial navy troopers, and a full battalion of Imperial Stormtroopers.

The sneer became a frown as the apprentice remembered Lord Vader's words: _Leave no witnesses_. He was more uncertain about that than he was about facing his first fugitive Jedi. Although his Master spoke of confronting the Emperor and taking over in his stead, the apprentice felt no disloyalty to the many troopers and officers working steadfastly in Imperial Service. If they broke no laws or hatched no plots against his Master, he had no gripe with them. But now, for the first time, he would have to act against those whose only error would be to cross his path. Was this a test, he wondered, to see how far he would go in pursuit of his destiny? If so, he swore not to disappoint his Master. He would obey orders and follow his instincts. He would not fail.

The starfighter facility was much larger than it had seemed from a distance, looking like a stack of round plates hanging high above the Smuggler's Moon. What he had assumed were lights flashing across its irregular surface turned out to be explosions when viewed from close up.

A heavily modified Venator-class Star Destroyer, a relic of the Clone Wars much like Starkiller's target, and a pair of CR90 anti-fighter corvettes, along with several dozen fighters and bombers made short work of the small Imperial task force and defense satellites that protected the station, and were laying siege to the station, and the TIE fighters that were flying out of it once they were finished being built.

Vast balls of yellow-hot gas erupted at irregular intervals from shattered viewports, weakened bulkheads, and burst access tubes.

"The shipyard's sustained heavy damage," Juno said matter-of-factly as she looked for a place to dock.

"I can see that." The apprentice peered with her. _Former_ general Rahm Kota had obviously been busy. "Get us closer."

The _Rogue Shadow_ wove gracefully between warships, dogfights, and gouts of flame and debris that spewed from the hull of the station. The apprentice was forced to admire Juno's deft hand at the controls. The only tension she showed as the ship rocked and slewed was in her jaw. It was clenched tight.

"Over there," he said, pointing. "That looks like an open hanger."

She nodded tightly. "It's defended."

"We don't have the time to talk to security." Or to explain that he was forbidden to let anyone know who they were. "Come in hot. Let me handle the defenses."

With well-practiced moves of his own, he activated the ship's weapons systems and took a bead on the cannon emplacements protecting the open hanger. He waited until automated targeting had registered their presence and they swiveled to take aim at the _Rogue Shadow_. Then, with two precise shots, he destroyed the emplacements and thus cleared the way for a landing.

Juno didn't waste any time. The starfighter streaked into the hanger and settled onto a flatspace clear of debris. As thrusters brought the _Rogue Shadow_ to a halt, the apprentice was already out of his seat.

"I will slice into the mainframe and guide you through the infrastructure," Juno said, slipping a commset over her right ear. "Your friend here can help me."

Starkiller didn't dissuade her, although he knew her efforts would be mostly unnecessary. He could already feel the presence of the Jedi radiating through the facility like a bright light after a snowstorm. Kota wanted to be found, all right.

"Just keep the ship safe," he told her, " and be ready to leave when I get back. We might need to move quickly."

"That is my speciallty," she said through the comlink on his wrist as he glided through the ship to the exit ramp, which was fully extended before he arrived. He smelled smoke and spilled blood in the air. That and the faint stench of Jedi made his heart quicken. His eyes narrowed. He took a running jump out of the ship.

His lightsaber was lit before he hit the deck, ready to deflect the shots fired his way by the contingent of troopers sent to investigate their landing. The Force guided his arm.

It rushed through him like wine down the neck of a bottle, joyous with release and the promise of more to come. His blade drew glowing lines through the air, casting energy bolts back at the troopers who'd fired them, sending them sprawling in a shower of sparks.

A dozen open-helmeted men and women in blue and silver combat uniforms - Kota's insurgents, he presumed - came down the hanger's primary access corridor, sealing the blast door behind them. Baring his teeth, he ran to meet them, eager to take the offensive. Their rifles were no match for the power of the Force. A single, powerful push scattered them like dolls. One he blasted with lightning. A second he choked until all consciousness fled. A third he swept up and pounded against the nearest bulkhead. The rest he dismembered with graceful aggression, ignoring their cries of fear and pain.

The blast door opened, and both insurgents and Imperials retreated through it.

"_All Imperial squads maintain offensive stance_," blared a voice over the intercom. "_All squads maintain offensive stance!"_

Starkiller grinned and followed his welcoming committee up the corridor.

"_Can you hear me_?" Juno asked through the comlink.

"Yes." He replied as he swung his lightsaber through more limbs and batted away more blaster bolts back to their origin point.

"_Reports are showing that Kota's forces have stormed the command center._"

"Then that's where I'm headed." He stepped over the bodies and followed her directions to the letter.

Her calm voice guided him level by level up a huge chasm leading to the top of the facility.

A squadron of TIE fighters were buzzing around, trying to help the Imperial forces retake the Flight Control Tower in the center, as Insurgents tried to hold it with a captured AT-ST walker. Militia Elites armed with Rocket launchers and Z-6 Rotary guns managed to shoot down two Imperial fighters. One crashed into one of the several bridges connecting the Tower to several parts of the station, while the other crashed into the Rebel-controlled AT-ST, demolishing both.

Once Starkiller was out of Juno's sight, he didn't have to worry about her asking questions about his harsh treatment of their supposed comrades. Lord Vader could fill her in on that point later, if he thought it necessary. For now Kota was the most important thing.

"The intruders may try using TIE fighter assembly lines as cover," she said. "And I am picking up explosives on my scanners. Be careful."

He assured her he would, even as he snuck into the Flight Control tower, and dodged a trap laid by Kota's insurgents at the top of a turbo lift shaft. The voice over the station's intercom became progressively more alarmed.

"_Threat status upgraded. Eliminate all unauthorized personnel."_

_"Unnecessary force is authorized."_

_"All K-Level squads report in!"_

_"Reinforce local security stations **immediately**!_"

The walls shook from an explosion so close, it must have buckled every bulkhead on that level. Always, Starkiller kept in mind Juno's echoing of his own observation: _We are walking into a trap._ Except he was doing the walking while she sat in the ship, safe from BlasTech E-11 rifles and the insurgents ragtag weapons.

"_Another stormtrooper squadron has reached Hanger Twelve," _Juno informed._ "It looks like we will have some help in retaking the facility_."

"The station is not our concern."

"_But Imperial High Command will be quite upset if the TIE assembly lines are damaged-_"

"I don't answer to High Command. Now cut the chatter. I'm trying to concentrate."

On the floor of a massive star-fighter assembly rig, the apprentice stopped with his head raised and his lightsaber cocked. A prickling in the back of his neck warned him of a new threat just as pile of black and red barrels exploded to his right, sending bits of TIE fighter in all directions. He deflected the main force of the explosions, but was still stung by tiny pieces of shrapnel down the back of his right hand.

"Give up!" The insurgents shouted. "We have the factory!"

"What is he?" Called another to one of his fellows. "Some kind of Shadow Guard, or Inquisitor?"

"Doesn't matter. Blast him!"

Anger rose up in the apprentice, pure and clean, sweeping all other concerns aside. He vaulted a stack of detached solar gather panels and sent a stream of machine parts raining down on the source of the weapons fire.

Screams sounded over the crashing of metal. Kota's men scattered from behind the TIE cockpits they had been using as shelter. Some fired shots at him, employing a range of weaponry that displayed either a lack of organization or restricted resources, or both. Starkiller deflected every shot with controlled fury and poured his rage into retaliation. He felt no need to hold back. Those disloyal to the Empire deserved everything they got.

Only when the last was buried under a small mountain of titanium alloy hull plates and reactor shielding did he examine in more detail the equipment they had been carrying. As well as their motley weapons and somewhat mismatched armor, the fighters had brought explosive timer packs and had clearly been setting such charges elsewhere on the level. He'd best hurry, he told himself, before the whole facility went up in flames.

No sooner was this thought complete than another shockwave rolled through the structure, much stronger than the last. He barely kept his footing on the heaving deck as TIE fighter and body parts tumbled around him. Juno was shouting something at him, but it was a moment before he could hear her over the blaring of the intercom.

"-the stabilizers or the repulsor engines - can't tell - not good at all."

"What's that?" he asked. "Repeat."

"Kota's men have hit the facility where it hurts," she summarized. "Finish up soon, or we're going into the skylanes with it."

"Right." The deck was still moving underfoot as he made his way out of the assembly area, blocking the path behind him with a pile of ejector seats and unmounted ion engines. "Where did you say this control center was?"

Juno guided him through the quaking facility. Anyone unlucky enough to get in his way was unceremoniously pushed aside by telekinesis. Doors buckled shut and weapons mysteriously jammed. He didn't have time to play games anymore.

"Any available squadrons," blared the intercom, "defend the security stations at once!" Then: "They're breaching the security stations!" And finally: "Command bridge to all squadrons, we need your assista-"

The final broadcast ended with a rasp of blaster fire. Then relative peace.

Ambient gravity was noticeably lighter by the time he reached the doors that Juno assured him led to the control center. That meant the entire facility was falling at a faster rate than he cared to think about.

He could feel the Jedi's presence nearby.

With a gesture of his finger, the heavy blast doors slid open. Beyond lay a room identical to hundreds in the galaxy: cold and metallic, with red display screens keeping staff updated on the facility's status. A long, elevated walkway led to a command post where General Rahm Kota stood with his back to the door, in a gesture deliberate in its confidence and contempt. He hadn't even drawn his lightsaber, which hung diagonally across his shoulder blades in a custom-made sheath. A brown cloak hung from two metal shoulder pads that only added to the physical presence of the man. He was a warrior with every breath and wore his battle scars with pride.

Starkiller had been ready to attack, but now he felt a brief moment of hesitation. This wasn't what he had expected. Jedi were soft from a life of privilege, outdated, spent. He hadn't expected a _soldier_.

Kota's voice, when he spoke, was deep and commanding, as it had been during PROXY's impersonation of him. He turned around, and upon seeing the apprentice looked visibly surprised.

"A _boy_?" With one blindingly fast movement, the lightsaber was in his hand and lit. "After all these months of attacking Imperial targets, Vader sends a boy to fight _me_?"

Grim and silent, the apprentice adopted a fighting crouch. So the trap had been directed not at him but at his Master. If Kota was disappointed, the apprentice swore that this would be the last emotion Kota ever felt.

He raised his left hand and with the power of the dark side unleashed a bolt of Sith lightning at the renegade Jedi.

Kota only laughed. Raising his left hand in a move that was a mirror image of Starkiller's own, Kota sent the lightning arcing back to its source. The energy struck both of them, hurling them apart.

Starkiller broke off the attempt, blinking smoke away from his eyes. His anger intensified. He was the first to his feet and running as soon as his boots touched the deck. He felt completely weightless, yet full of momentum, like a hurled spear. His red blade cut a blur through the air, aimed hard at Kota's throat.

The Jedi general ducked and swept his green lightsaber up and down in a lazy attempt to catch him as he went by. That was a move Starkiller had long ago learned to avoid by tucking his head down closer to his center of gravity and rolling in midair, then kicking himself back at his opponent off the nearest wall. This time he pushed telekinetically as he came, attempting to knock Kota's feet out from under him before bringing his blade to bear.

Again, however, Kota deflected his Force energies back at him. Again they were pushed apart. More cautiously the apprentice circled him, slicing chairs to pieces as he walked and sending the glowing fragments at his enemy's head. Anger made him eager to attack, but he knew better than to give in to it. He hadn't been humiliated. He had successfully tested Kota's defenses. Now that he knew a direct attack would probably fail, he had to find another way to get closer to the man. Or to make the Jedi come to him.

Suddenly Kota was moving, charging with astonishing speed behind a furious diversity of strokes. The apprentice retreated with lips pulled back over his teeth.

_This is more like it_!

Green and red energies clashed as he blocked blow after blow and still Kota kept coming, attempting to overwhelm him with sheer determination and speed. Starkiller went back several steps, then stopped. He drew his blade close around him, forming a tight defense. One that Kota couldn't penetrate.

Realizing this, the general backed off and tried a different style, unleashing several devastatingly swift strikes, which the apprentice parried, offering strikes of his own when Kota faltered.

The duel raged across the control center, which shook and rattled as the facility around it broke apart. Starkiller ignored everything - Juno's voice, the wildly changing gravity, the never-ending explosions, and the rising temperature of the floor beneath him - in order to concentrate solely on this one vital battle.

While Starkiller acknowledged that Kota was strong and clever in his own right, possessing many moves the darksider had never seen before, he was ultimately able to drive him back. Despite Kota's attempts to regain the offensive or force a mistake on the apprentice's part, he was quickly wearing out and taking hits In his desperation, Kota broke off from the duel momentarily.

Both duelists stared each other down, breathing heavily.

"You're stronger than I thought," Kota said, admitting that he had underestimated Starkiller. "I'll be sure to send your ashes back to you masters," Kota declared as he holstered his saber on his back. He then bent his knees and used his hands to channel the power of the force. That's when Starkiller nearly lost his balance as the command center began to vibrate and shake violently.

Kota was telekinetically seizing the entire command center structure. He ripped it from the facility.

"What are you doing?" Starkiller asked as the command center was sent plummeting into Nar Shaddaa's upper atmosphere.

"If I have to bring the facility down on both of our heads to stop you, then so be it," Kota declared. As the control center flipped over while plummeting, they resumed their duel.

However, Kota was unable to keep up his defense. The apprentice seized Kota in a telekinetic stranglehold and hurled a chunk of debris at him, which smashed Kota hard into the wall behind him. Keeping up his grip, Malgus bashed the hapless general against the floor then flung him against the ceiling, leaping up after him and physically assaulting him before blasting him back down. Kota hit the floor so hard he cracked the glass beneath him.

As Kota attempted to regain his feet, Malgus leapt at him and attacked. Kota managed to block, initiating a blade lock, which sizzled just millimeters from their faces.

Kota strained but couldn't force the red blade away. In his blue eyes the apprentice saw not cleansing hatred, but regret. Even at the end, Kota clung to his weak Jedi ways.

"Vader thinks"- the old man gasped-"he's turned you. But I can sense your future - and Vader isn't part of it!"

The apprentice urged the lightsabers even closer to Kota's face.

Sweat beated on the Jedi Master's forehead. "I sense - I sense only . . ." A look of shock and confusion passed over his face. "_Me?_"

Starkiller forced Kota's own saber down into his eyes.

And suddenly - as though in a vision from out of time, exactly the sort of vision the apprentice sought in the fire of his red blade - Kota's face became that of another man, a man with dark hair and strong features, features not dissimilar to his own.

The general cried out in pain - and in that cry the apprentice thought he heard a man shouting, "Run!"

He flinched away, blinking furiously, wondering if Kota in his desperate extremity had concocted some new insidious Jedi mind trick. But his head seemed clear of intrusion, and the general seemed to be thinking of anything but attack.

In agony, Kota sent out a wave of Force energy that shattered every viewport in the command center, dropping his lightsaber in the process. The apprentice was sent flying. A raging wind swept past them, sucking out the smoke and shrapnel of their duel. Kota, too, was sucked out and fell with a fading cry into the atmosphere below. Or had he leapt?

The apprentice let the gale drag him closer to the hole where the viewport had once been. Catching a bent stanchion with one hand, he carefully leaned out and looked down, lightsaber at the ready for any final deception.

Kota's body was already far below, spread-eagled and dwindling among the skylanes of the Vertical City. A large transport intersected his path; thenceforth his body was invisible. The apprentice imagined it being swatted like a bug on somebody's windshield.

But he wasn't satisfied that the task was completed.

But he was profoundly disinclined to report failure to Darth Vader.

What to do?

"_This place is going to tear itself apart at any moment!" _came Juno's voice over the comlink_. "Are you almost done here?_"

"On my way." With a vehement look on his face and no triumph in his heart, he retreated from the viewport and headed for the door, pausing only to scoop up the fallen Jedi Master's lightsaber on the way out.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

_Liberation, General Kota's flagship_.

Captain Shack leaned over the holo-table in the cruiser's command center. He watched as parts of the construction facility began to fall to the surface, including the bridge superstructure at the top.

A communications ran up to the captain, before she snapped off a quick salute. "Captain, our remaining forces on the station confirm that General Kota was on the bridge just before it collapsed. But we've received no word from him or any of his squad. We've also lost contact with several squads inside the station."

The captain didn't respond immediately. He just watched as dogfights continued to rage outside of the station. Most of the Imperial frigates and defense platforms defending the station have been destroyed, reduced to flaming wrecks that would soon be claimed by Nar Shadda's atmosphere.

He then pressed a button on the holo-table. A hologram of a human male officer materialized in front of him. "Lieutenant, I want you to take our backup units and head for the station. Finish that facility off and evacuate our surviving men."

"_Yes Sir._"

Shack then turned to the helmsmen. "Helm, bring us about and head for the surface. I want to track down that falling debris and see if we can't find General Kota. And somebody get a shuttle ready to find him, and one fighter squadron to escort."

"Aye Aye, Sir!" Said one crew member as everyone started running around to complete their assignments.

"_Belay that order, Captain._" Said a distorted, computerized voice.

Captain Shack turned around and saw a holographic image appear behind him, on the holo-table. It was a hooded figure, but with no facial features visible. He knew what it was almost immediately.

"Fulcrum. To what do I owe this pleasure?" He asked.

"_Your ground forces have taken heavy casualties, and your space forces are running low on fuel and ammo. You are to break off and return to base immediately._" Fulcrum said.

"But the station is nearly destroyed, and all local Imperial space forces have been taken out. We can still-" Shack said before he was cut off.

"_Out of the question. My superiors have put far too many resources into this operation, and we'd prefer not to risk anymore. Your cruiser is an asset that must not be lost." _

Captain Shack was taken aback. "But what about General Kota? We lost his signal in the atmosphere."

"_Don't worry about General Kota._ _I have already sent operatives to the surface to locate him_."

Suddenly, an alarm started blaring around the bridge. "Captain, we've got enemy reinforcements coming out of hyperspace!" An ensign called out from his station. Shack looked out the viewport and saw a pair of Imperial Star Destroyers, and several escorts, exit hyperspace.

A silent dread blanketed across the bridge, as the crew witnessed the Imperial fleet advance towards them.

Captain Shack closed his eyes and allowed a sigh to leave his lips.

"_Are you convinced yet, Captain_?" Fulcrum said.

Shack turned back to the featureless hologram. "Very well. Bring us about and prepare to make the jump to hyperspace. Get our men off the station. Corvettes and fighters are to hold off those TIEs until our men are evacuated from the station."

As per the captain's orders, the _Liberation_ made for the station and began to pick up the remnants of the assault force, while the lighter ships held off the fast-moving TIEs. When the order was given for all ships to withdraw, a flight of Y-wings flew in the direction of the Imperial fleet, and unleashed their proton torpedo payload, before swiftly breaking off back towards the _Liberation_.

The smaller Imperial ships performed evasive maneuvers, before the missiles detonated, destroying a few fighters.

When everyone was accounted for, the Liberation, its escorts, and any fighters still outside, jumped into hyperspace, without their General, and without completing their objective.

The Empire still reigned supreme over the sector.

But unbeknownst to anyone, a single unmarked shuttle flew towards the surface, heading for General Kota's last known location.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**Well folks, that was part 2**

**I hope that you all enjoyed. To anyone concerned that this was just going to be an exact copy of the Force Unleashed, I hope the _SW: Rebels_ references made it clear that it wasn't.**

**I'm gonna get cracking on chapter 3, and have it out as soon as possible.**

**Anyway, until next time, this is Grubkiller, over and out.**


	3. Part 3-Fortress Vader

**Have no fear, Grubkiller is here.**

**Hey guys and gals, sorry its been a while since my last update.**

**I've been really busy lately with work and such, and I've been working on multiple stories.**

**But anyway, please enjoy this latest chapter.**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

_Mustafar, Fortress Vader, secret hanger_.

Juno knew better than to expect a rapturous reception upon their return, but even so she was disappointed. The secret hanger was empty when the _Rogue Shadow_ docked. A successful mission deserved some sort of acknowledgement, surely. Even after Callos . . .

She pushed the thought away. The job was done. What more needed to be said? She had done it well - in her eyes, at least, although Starkiller had barely acknowledged the fact on returning to the ship - and they had lived to fight another day. Or to kill more Jedi Knights, if that was what Lord Vader's scruffy, incommunicative agent was really up to. She had seen the second lightsaber hilt hanging from his belt, and she knew what that probably meant.

It had taken thousands of clone warriors to completely wipe out the Jedi. That was the official version - ignoring rumors she'd heard about Darth Vader's ongoing hunt for the last survivors of that strange and deadly sect. From the stories her father had told her as a child she'd imagined them to be monsters ten feet high sucking the lifeblood out of the Republic. Now it turned out they still existed, and young men went forth to do battle with them alone.

Could they really really be so reduced, these villains that had once held the galaxy in their thrall?

Or . . . could the young man who was now her traveling companion possibly be so powerful?

The landing struts had barely touched metal hen he was on his feet and heading for the door.

She leaned back into her seat and ran her hands across her temples. Her skin felt oily and covered in grit, as though she had been the one running around in the smoke and the mess above Nar Shaddaa instead of watching it from the feeds she'd managed to slice into from one of the facility's security cams, footage of which she scrubbed so that no one could find out about the apprentice. She wanted to check over the ship and get into the refresher and scrub the dirt away.

She hadn't felt clean for weeks . . .

The voice of Starkiller almost made her jump out of her skin. she had thought jim long gone.

"Good work, Juno," he said. "I'll leave PROXY here to help you run through the checklist."

"Thank you, but I-" By the time she turned her seat around, the cockpit was empty of anyone but her and the droid. PROXY stared back at her with unwinking photo-receptors. She didn't want to admit that he made her slightly nervous, so she flashed her warmest smile and hauled herself out of the seat.

"Well, let's get to it. I've got a report to write before I get any rest - if anyone other than me will ever read it . . ."

* * *

PROXY proved an efficient and unobtrusive co-worker. He followed instructions, showed initiative, and did his level best to stay out of her way. That was more than she could say for half of the real people she had worked with since graduating from the Imperial Academy on Corulag. Together they checked over the ship in record time, noting only a few small carbon scores on its port side and, near the aft sensor array, a blaster burn that had been weakened so much by the shields, it would barely have fried an egg.

When they were done, she dismissed the droid, telling him to go take an oil bath or whatever he did for relaxation, and then set off to her quarters to work on the mission report she insisted had to be completed.

That wasn't entirely a lie. She did need to report in detail to word Vader, just as she had on every mission she'd ever flown for him. The thing was, she didn't really need to do it right away. It could wait a standard hour or two or even until the morning. But there was something else on her mind, something much more important that really couldn't wait any longer.

'_Is there a psychological profile in there, too?_' She had asked the droid before they'd set out on their first mission together.

_'Yes_', the machine had told her, '_but it's restricted_.'

That fact had burned in her all the way to Nar Shaddaa. It came as no surprise that such a file existed somewhere in the vast bureaucracy that was the Imperial Navy. Everyone probably had one, except Darth Vader and the Emperor. What rankled was that it was being talked about. PROXY knew where it was. The wretched machine might even have read it, for all his protest about it being _restricted_. A droid capable of impersonating Jedi Knights might have unknown capacities for deception.

She wanted to know what that profile contained. What was it telling people about her? What secrets did it reveal to the galaxy in general - about her early life, her father, her career? About Callos?

Her mouth was set in a determined line when she reached her quarters a few levels above the hanger bay and activated her data pad. Handpicked for special duties by Darth Vader himself, she had a certain degree of access to files normally hidden to those of her rank. Would that be sufficient for her to locate and read the file she wanted? There was only one way to find out.

Carefully, and thoroughly, she began slicing into the Fort's data banks.

The first files she found concerning her just contained basic information that PROXY already had given to Starkiller in the hanger before their first mission. Then she began probing deeper into the databanks, seeking forgotten or overlooked corners of information. More snippets emerged. One talked about her mother, a women she barely remembered, and who was killed in crossfire between Imperial loyalists and insurgents, during her planet's brief civil war, during a coup on Imperial Center that nearly killed the Emperor.

Her mother had been a teacher. The file contained a holo Juno had not seen before, an image of her mother with her long blond hair inned back by a brooch made from a round black stone. Her eyes looked lively and amused. She seemed terribly young to be a mother, and dead.

Among a list of high-ranking Corulag graduates, she came across her name appended to her complete academic record. The list of subjects and grades filled her with pride, as it always did, but with that emotion also came sadness. She had worked so hard and achieved so much, not just for herself, but for her father, too. A distant and strict man, especially after the death of his life, he had been a fierce admirer of those serving the Empire. A civilian engineer, he would have signed up for the Academy himself had he not failed the physical. So he should have been proud of his daughter, who had graduated with such honor and gone on to achieve everything he had ever wanted. Why, then, had he not even shown up at her graduation? It didn't make any sense.

That was an old, familiar hurt. The profile could talk about that aspect of her life as much as it wanted and she wouldn't think twice. She hadn't seen her father in years and wouldn't mind if she never did again. Only in recent days, away from her former squadron mates and lying alone in her bunk-room at night, did she ever wonder what had become of him. Would she end up as bitter as he was? How many more missions like Callos would it take before she forgot why she had joined up in the first place?

In a small holo appended to the last file she found, her father looked at her with empty eyes around his narrow, imperious nose. She closed that window with an impatient flick of her index finger.

This was getting her nowhere. Searching through archives for her name could leave her mired in trivia for days. There had to be a better way.

She leaned back in her seat and thought for a moment. It was PROXY who had alerted her to the existence of the file, so the droid must have access to its location, if not the actual contents. Therefore, if she could somehow pin down the information PROXY had scanned in the last day or two, she might get a result.

It took her a few minutes to find an ID that looked like it might belong to the droid and to begin following it through the databanks.

But then, without warning, her screen cleared. She blinked bleary eyes at a new view, a data feed she appeared to have unintentionally sliced into. It was one occasionally accessed by PROXY, showing a gunmetal-gray corridor leading to a heavy, secure door. The view came with sound. She could hear footsteps, faintly, from the other side of the door. Someone was pacing restlessly back and forth. And breathing: heavy, rhythmic breathing, as of lungs straining at a mechanical respirator . . .

A shock of adrenaline rushed through her. Only one person in the galaxy breathed like that. She must have patched by accident into Lord Vader's private chambers. Her hand reached up to cancel the feed lest she be discovered spying on him, but before she could complete the command, the door hissed open and her curiosity was caught.

Revealed in the doorway was Starkiller, a picture of impatience and restrain. He had clearly been waiting to speak to his Dark Lord all this time. In four quick paces he walked past the vantage point of her hidden security cam and out of view.

With a series of hesitant commands, not quite believing her audacity, she tested to see if the viewpoint was movable. It rotated smoothly to bring Starkiller back into sight, revealing a room that was empty of personality, unlike the rest of Vader's Fortress. The Dark Lord himself stood with his back to the room, staring at the molten red landscape outside.

Starkiller knelt behind Vader and waited. He seemed well accustomed to doing that, despite the energy boiling through him, barely contained by his skin. Without turning, Lord Vader asked, "_Master Kota is dead_?"

Starkiller didn't answer straightaway. He raised his head, considered the question, and then said, "_Yes."_

_"His lightsaber_."

Starkiller unclipped the second weapon from his belt. Vader turned just enough to reach out with one hand. The fallen Jedi's lightsaber was snatched into Lord Vader's grasp as though by invisible fingers.

Juno let out a surprised gasp and stifled it underbought hands, irrationally afraid that the Dark Lord might hear her through the one-way security link.

Oblivious to her scrutiny, he turned back to the viewport and examined the lightsaber in his hands. Starkiller waited, immobile, as though he could have knelt there all night.

Finally Vader spoke again.

"_My spies have been watching another Jedi. Kazdan Paratus is hiding on the junk world of Raxus Prime."_

"_I'll deal with him as I dealt with Rahm Kota_," said Starkiller unhesitatingly.

_Well, that's that_, thought Juno, abandoning all hope of sleep that night. _No rest for the wicked_. She moved to disconnect and get ready for the call to arms, but her finger hovered over the switch, unable to let the moment go. Her position was an illicit but privileged one, and hard to abandon.

Vader looked up from the lightsaber and turned to face the young man kneeling before him.

"_Kazdan Paratus is far more powerful than you," _the black-masked figure said, filling her with apprehension. _"I do not expect you to survive. But should you succeed, you will be one step closer to your destiny._"

Starkiller nodded eagerly. "_The Emperor."_

_"Yes. Only together can we defeat him."_

_"I will not fail you, Lord-_"

Juno's finger stabbed down hard on the cutoff switch and she recoiled into her chair. Apprehension had become pure horror. Could she possibly have heard correctly? The Emperor? Vader and his dark apprentice were going to betray the _Emperor_?

No, she told herself, getting up from her chair and pacing back and forth across the small room. it couldn't be true. There must be more to it than she thought. Perhaps if she'd kept listening . . .

When she tried to get the feed back, the connection was gone. The screen remained resolutely blank as though taunting her fearful concerns.

Darth Vader had been the Imperial Supreme Commander of the military for as long as Palpatine had been Emperor. It was inconceivable that he would turn on his Master now. Even if he was considering it, what could he and one scruffy agent do against the Imperial Guards and well-armed aides who attended the Emperor everywhere he went? The thought was preposterous. She had to put it out of her mind as a product of fatigue and go about her duty as though nothing had happened.

It wasn't as if she could turn either of them in on such flimsy evidence. If she tried, she'd be killed for sure, whether the accusation was true or not . . .

Right on cue, her communicator buzzed.

"Yes? She said, speaking as though nothing untoward had happened.

"_I need you in the _Rogue Shadow," Starkiller informed her, as she had known he would. "_We have a new mission_."

"I'll be right there."

She took a moment to smooth her uniform and her hair, and to rub the dark circles under her eyes, then she hurriedly shut down her data-pad and left the room.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

_Mustafar, Lower levels of Fortress Vader_.

When Vader's secret apprentice went into a hyperspace, the Dark Lord saw fit to go into the cave complex beneath the castle he had built. In fact, he had built this castle here for this exact reason. He was trying to uncover the vast secrets of the Dark Side Locus.

Using the power of dark side, and channeling it through the Castle, he directed the uncontrollable amount of Sith energy into the stone table before him, which ripped open the fabric of time and space.

"Finally," he said to himself as he was about to step into the portal.

But then his com-link went off. He begrudgingly answered it, and a pair of holograms appeared in front of him. One was an Utapaun known as the Grand Inquisitor. The other one was a human officer that Vader was all too familiar with.

Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, governor of the Outer Rim, and overseer of the other Moffs and their sectors.

"_Lord Vader. We have captured the leader of a rebel cell from the Lothal Sector. A Jedi named Kanan Jarrus._" The Inquisitor said.

"What about the rest of his allies?"

"_That was why we brought him here. I want to know what this Jedi has to say, so that we may deal with his rebel friends_." Tarkin said. "_That is, if your interrogation techniques are up to par._"

Vader stared at the Grand Moff for a few seconds. Most people would shudder under this gaze . . . but Tarkin didn't.

"Deliver him to the Fortress and begin the interrogation process." Vader said while looking at the Inquisitor. "I will join you after I have completed another matter. I am not to be disturbed under any circumstances." Vader ordered.

Before they could say another word, Vader shut down the holo-projector and stepped into the portal.

He had been waiting for this moment for so long.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

_Fortress Vader_.

In another part of the facility, Kanan Jarrus, the Jedi prisoner captured on Lothal, was forcibly escorted across the landing pad and into the Dark Castle, where it was rumored that Jedi survivors were sent to be interrogated and executed.

As far as Kanan knew, no one knew that he was here.

But that wasn't true. His friends, the members of the Ghost crew, the Specters, were here for him.

Hera Syndulla, the twi'lek leader of the group, watched her lover disappear inside the Fort's entrance through her micro-binoculars. She closed her eyes and breathed in heavily. She then turned to her fellow crew-mates, who were escorted here by some of the natives, including a tribal leader, Chief Kkkt.

"Alright, everyone. Kanan was just taken into the facility. We're going in to save him. Zeb, when we get inside the facility, I want you and Sabine to find the power source for the defense grid that Chopper located, and blow it to slag, and then you're going to find us a ride out of here. When the defenses are down, Father Kkkt's forces will launch an all out assault on the Fort, and that should keep them distracted long enough for me and Ezra to find Kanan's cell, and then we're getting out of here."

Everyone nodded in affirmation.

"But what about the rest of your rebellion?" Chief Kkkt said. "Will they not be joining us?"

Hera let out a sigh. "We don't know. Our contacts are doing the best they can to send help our way. We're most likely on our own. But are _your_ people will be take such a big risk?"

Chief Kkkt crossed his arms. "We have suffered under Imperial rule for too long. They plunder our world, steal our resources, and use us for forced labor. We are more than willing to make them pay for what they've done.

Hera and her friends smiled.

"Alright people, let's do this."

As Chief Kkkt and his warriors went to rejoin their people out on the lava plains, Hera, Sabine, Ezra and Zeb all went to blindspot at the bottom of the Fort, where the durasteel wall met the surface. Sabine used her scanner to look for a structural weakpoint in the wall. When the scanner went off, she pointed to the wall.

"Right here," she said.

Ezra stepped forward and took out his recently constructed lightsaber, ignited the blue blade, and plunged it straight into the Fort's wall, before cutting a large circle out of the wall.

When he was done, Zeb stepped forward and began to push against the wall, using his raw strength to push the large metal slab until it fell into the building. They all stepped into the hole and then Zeb pushed the slab back into place, as if it was never cut.

"Alright, stick to the plan and we might make it through this. Let's go." Hera said.

And with that, they split up.

Sabine and Zeb went for the defense grid's power complex, while Ezra and Hera ran for the detention block.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

_Gateway world__._

_When he first stepped through, he noticed that his armor was shed from his body, and he was just the way he was before he was horribly scarred. He then started to walk through the dimension of the Dark Side, where he began to walk past other structures that had been his other designs of his fortress before the final design was complete._

_But something was different. The structures all began to merge until they were formed into a place he was all too familiar with._

_The Jedi Temple._

_Vader began to march up the staircase with two red lightsabers drawn. And behind him, thousands of Imperial Stormtroopers marched behind him. And when they reached the top, they were met by many of the Jedi that Vader knew in his previous life._

_They included Yoda, Mace Windu, Shaak Ti, Plo Koon, Saesee Tiin, Ki-Adi Mundi, and several others._

_Vader pointed one of his lightsabers forward, and the Imperial troopers behind him stormed the temple, all guns blazing. As the troopers and Jedi Knights did battle, Vader went to work killing the visions of the Jedi Masters that betrayed him._

_A vicious duel commenced, but Vader got the upper hand. One by one the Jedi Masters all fell before him. As he waded through the pile of limbs and severed heads, only Yoda remained, who tried to leap at Vader, who merely plunged his swords deep into the little Jedi's abdomen._

_Let the past die. Kill it if you have to._

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

_ISD Sovereign, low orbit over Mustafar_.

On the bridge of the ISD Sovereign, Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin stood in front of the viewport that towered over the massive Imperial Star-Destroyer, a massive space-faring fortress of turbo-lasers and durasteel.

The Grand Moff was disinterested, as usual, with the personal affairs of the dark wizards that were always going on missions for the Galactic Emperor. But for once their efforts have finally bared fruit, for they had captured a Jedi.

One of the few who escaped the Emperor's contingency protocol 66.

And even better, was a member of a rebel cell that has been harassing Imperial shipping for several months now, including shipments of kyber crystals that were crucial to project Stardust.

The aging veteran smiled. With his project safe, it will soon be completed, and the galaxy will finally know peace.

Suddenly, an alarm started blaring across the ship. Officers and crewmen started scrambling to their stations.

"What's going on Captain?" Tarkin asked.

An officer rushed up to his side. "Sir, we're detecting multiple signatures approaching through hyperspace."

"Shields up. Activate ion cannons and tractor beams. I want to capture as many of these pitiful rebels as possible."

As the Imperial gunnery crews started to man their stations, several small corvettes and blockade runners emerged from hyperspace, surrounded by flights of Y-wing bombers, Z-95 headhunters, and A-wing interceptors.

"Captain, you may fire when ready." Tarkin said, with his signature calm voice.

"Open fire!" The captain called out.

And suddenly a maelstrom of green turbo-laser fire was unleashed upon the rebel fighters, which broke off once the flak erupted around them. Then, ion cannons opened up on the larger ships, trying to deactivate them. Two rebel blockade runners were stopped dead in the water, but the rest continued forward, trying to get in close to the Star-Destroyer.

Soon, dozens of TIE fighters were unleashed, and began to engage in dogfights with the superior, but far less numerous rebel fighters.

Many TIEs were shot down. But they could be replaced.

The rebels had to make every shot count, for they had very few men and ships to spare.

The battle over Mustafar was on.

* * *

_Fortress Vader, generator complex_.

Sabine and Zeb began to rush through the corridors of this dark fortress, avoiding Stormtrooper patrols and MSE-series "mouse" droids.

Sabine led the way with her wrist-mounted holo-map, which showed a model of the Fortress, but not a detailed layout, sense this facility was mostly 'off the grid' for most people outside of this system. Instead, all they could do was lock onto a certain power source, and feel their way through the fortress almost blindly.

Zeb peaked around a corner just as a pair of stormtroopers walked by on their patrol. Then he looked back at Sabine. "Have you found it yet, or are we going to run into another dead end?"

"Look, if you wanna hold the map, be my guest. But it's not easy to find a power source when we can't see the hallways." Sabine said as she continued to study the hologram of the fortress emanating from wrist unit. When she brought up where she and Zeb were in relation to the power source, showing up as two yellow dots near a massive red blob, she went to see if the coast was clear again before charging towards the source again. "This way, hurry."

After running around for another thirty seconds, Sabine found a pair of metal doors that led straight to where her map was pointing them to. "This is it." She said as she started to press a few buttons on the door's key pad. When it flashed red and the text read "access denied", Sabine groaned. "Uhhh, my security codes won't get us through. We'll have to do this the old fashioned way."

She then stepped aside and gestured to the door with her hands in a presenting manner. "It's all yours big guy."

Zeb flashed a toothy smirk before cracking his knuckles. "Heh-heh-heh." He laughed as he walked over to the door and began to pull it open with his bare hands, using his raw lasat strength to pull the door apart. There was some resistance, and Zeb struggled, but the door was soon open.

"A-hah... Oh!" He exclaimed in surprise.

"What's wrong?" Sabine asked, not able to see through the door or past Zeb.

But then she heard rifles clicking and boot clattering against the deck.

"Who are you?" Said a voice on the other side of the door.

"Uhhhh-" Zeb stuttered.

"Freeze."

"Hands where I can see 'em!"

Realizing that Zeb was likely being held up by stormtroopers, she immediately pressed a few buttons on her wrist comm, jamming their short-range comms, before pulling the antennae on the side of her helmet down. She flipped through several visor settings before detecting several heat signatures behind the door, including Zeb's, the stormtroopers, and the reactors in the large room.

She then isolated the heat signatures that were immediately on the other side of the door, and saw four figures standing on the other side.

Sabine smiled. She pulled a disk out of one of her belt pouches and slid it underneath Zeb's legs, and it slid across the deck. The stormtroopers became agitated by this, but before they could do anything about it, Sabine pressed a button, and the small disk released an energy pulse that electrocuted the four troopers, locking them in place.

As they locked up and groaned in pain, Sabine slid across the floor underneath Zeb, who was still holding the door open, and pulled out her dual blaster pistols and unleashed a series of blaster bolts that hit all four troopers. Two of them fell to the deck, and the other two tumbled over the side of the walkway, which had no railings.

With less rifles aimed at him, Zeb let go of the doors and jumped through, allowing the door to slam shut behind him. He then pulled his Bo rifle off of his back and went to support Sabine, targeting Stormtroopers who were protecting the reactors.

"Blast them!"

The two specters started dodging blaster fire and went to take cover in a circles of computer terminals in the center of the room.

"Get those charges set up, I'll cover you!" Zeb shouted, as Sabine started tossing detonators onto the large reactors that connected the ceilings to the floor. She then started throwing several more onto the control panels.

As this was happening, the Stormtroopers and Zeb continued to exchange fire. As they kept him pinned down, more troopers went in to get close and flush them out and hopefully start disarming the bombs.

That's when Zeb jumped over cover and started firing on several troopers, before switching his rifle to its Bo-staff mode, which basically turned it into an electro-staff, which he used to knock several troopers over the side of the walkways. One trooper tried to jump on his back. But Zeb jumped back against the side of a reactor, knocking the trooper out cold, before he threw him at several more troopers like a rag doll, knocking down several more.

But more troopers started to pour in.

"Hurry it up Sabine."

"Done!" Sabine said as she linked the last of the charges to her wrist device. "Let's get out of here."

The two began to retreat under heavy fire, before they headed back to the door they came through. But instead of ripping it open, Sabine threw a thermal detonator at the door, demolishing it, Escaping the room without a scratch.

But as they passed through the demolished door, Zeb noticed that the troopers weren't chasing them. Instead, they were starting to gather up the bombs and disarm them

"Wait a minute, they'll try to disarm the bombs!" Zeb exclaimed.

That's when Sabine, while still running, pressed the detonation button on her wrist comm. Then seconds later, several explosions rumbled through the fortress, and a massive explosion ripped through the side of the tower, as the two specters could see out a viewport they were running along.

"YEAH!"

Sabine just stared at it, awestruck.

The way the orange explosion matched up well with the landscape of Mustafar perfectly.

"Now that... is a work of art."

* * *

_Gahenn Plains_.

Outside the Fort, which was being struck by a purple lightning that rippled through the clouds, a squadron of Imperial Stormtroopers led by an imperial officer were out on patrol, walking along the rocky landscape, which emitted column of ash and steam from the creaks of magma that ran through the soil like molten veins.

Ash storm started to blow across the region, making visibility more difficult.

And the heat - by the Force, the heat - was unbearable.

"Uh, I hate this planet." One trooper complained over the team's personal channel. "It's hot. And I don't like the soil. It's rough, course, irritating, and by god, it gets everywhere."

"Yeah, and it's so boring. The only thing to shoot out here are those natives, and even they haven't attacked in a while."

"Both of you, can it!" The squad leader called out. "We've got a job to do. Lord Vader wants to make sure that no one can interrupt his experiments."

"And what the hell is he doing all the time anyway? Every time he conducts his experiments, the tower ends up blowing up, and then he comes down to kill another one of those egg-heads."

"I don't care. Just do your job right, and you won't be the next one he's mad at."

"Sir, yes sir," the troopers all groaned in 'semi'-unison, as they reached a cliff that overlooked a molten lava-fall.

Suddenly, a massive explosion erupted from the side of the tower behind them.

The troopers turned around to see what it was.

"See?" One trooper called out while gesturing at the tower. "Every time, it never fails. Vader locks himself away, lightning show, and then- BAM, tower explodes."

But there was something off about this explosion. Usually, it happened just as the lightning storm started, and the roof would explode just as the lightning made contact with the roof. But this time, it was coming from the side, and inside.

And then something else happened. The power would usually flicker on and off, and then go back to normal. But this time, the lights went out, and massive sound of power draining echoed across the landscape.

"Wait a minute. I don't think that was Vader's project." The sergeant said.

As they all looked at the fort, no one saw a spear piercing a trooper through the un-armored throat. When he let out a muffled grunt, everyone turned around just in time to see him falling over the edge.

"Armang!" The stormtrooper sergeant exclaimed as he and two other troopers went to try and catch the injured trooper.

But he fell of the ledge and into the orange-glowing ash cloud below them. They tried to see where he went, or where the attacker came from. But then they heard chattering. from hundreds of different directions, echoing across the valley.

"What the hell?"

"Keep your weapons hot. Something's coming."

The troopers all gathered on the cliff with their weapons aimed. Just in time to see dozens of large war beetles marching up the side of the cliff, with Mustafar native-warriors riding them.

"BUGS!" One trooper called out before cutting loose with his DLT-19 Heavy Blaster Rifle.

"And natives too. We're under attack!"

As the other troopers started firing, several natives and their war beetles started to fall to the ground and river below. But for every target they took out, ten more seemed to take their place.

"Fall back!" The sergeant called out. "Get back to the Fort!"

The stormtrooper beat feet in the direction of the fort, just when the first beetle climbed over the cliff and began to charge towards the Fort. The symbol of the native plight on Mustafar.

'_By the end of this day_', thought Chief Kkkt, '_this dark castle will fall._'

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

_Detention block, interrogation chamber, Fortress Vader_.

Deep within the bowels of Fortress Vader a dark, vial agent of the Dark Side, watched as interrogation droids - 'Mind probes' - hovered around the Jedi prisoner, who was bound to a table.

The droids injected mind altering substances into Kanan Jarrus. The chemical caused great pain across his body, while also making him remain conscious. He groaned in pain as the droid continued to hover around him, recording his reactions.

The Grand Inquisitor walked over to Kanan, and used the Force to cause his table to stand up vertically, allowing him to look at him face-to-face.

"You certainly are a Jedi, considering how well you resist the mind probes. But now I grow tired of this game. So until you tell me what I want to know about your rebel friends," he said as he raised his hand, and started to use the force on Kanan's mind, "you will know terrible pain."

Kanan grunted and groaned, as he felt the Dark Side invading his mind, as if his very brain was being slowly crushed by his own skull.

"I won't talk, blasted Sith scum." Kanan said through clenched teeth.

The Inquisitor tried harder. "Tell me about the other Jedi."

"No!" Kanan groaned. "Ezra."

"Go on. . ." The Grand Inquisitor said. "What do you see?"

"I see... I see," Kanan said, before he opened his eyes and looked at the Inquisitor, "you, growing more... and more... frustrated."

The Inquisitor frowned. He then let go of Kanan's mind.

Kanan breathed in heavily, recovering from the ordeal.

"How very perceptive of you," the Grand Inquisitor said as he used the force to summon to electro-prods that were attached to the ceiling. He then activated them and caused energy to cover Kanan's body, overcoming him with pain.

"AAHHHHH!"

* * *

_Fortress Vader, detention area_.

Hera Syndulla and Ezra Bridger continued to move through the fortress, trying to look for the detention block. As they moved deeper and deeper into the building, they felt it rumble around them, as an explosion shook the building.

"Sounds like Sabine and Zeb are having a good time up top." Ezra said.

"Then Father Kkkt's forces will soon start the attack, and draw forces outside." Hera said. "We'd better hurry."

Ezra and Hera ran through winding corridors and dead ends until they were able to find the detention block, which was guarded by more than a couple dozen Stormtroopers.

The twi'lek pilot and young Jedi both hugged the wall to stay out of sight.

"What are we going to do? I can't fight through all of them." Ezra said.

Before Hera could say anything, the base's alarm started to go off, and an announcement was made of the base's PA system.

"_All personnel, this is Admiral Karius. We are under attack. This is not a drill. All available units are to report to the outer wall, immediately._"

In response to the announcement, about two-thirds of the troopers guarding the detention area scrambled to get top side, running right passed Ezra and Hera, who continued to hide within the wall conduits.

When all the troopers passed, Hera and Ezra looked back to see only a handful of stormtroopers still stationed in the detention block.

Ezra nodded in approval. "Not bad for those natives, there's only like eight of them left."

"Can you handle it?" Hera asked.

Ezra looked at her and smiled. "Watch this." He said before he ran around the corner and opened fire with the blaster portion of his lightsaber, striking one stormtrooper.

The others turned to see him charging down the hall before he ignited his lightsaber.

"It's a Jedi, get him!" One trooper called out before the rest opened fire.

But Ezra expertly blocked the oncoming shots as he advanced, redirecting one back into the nearest trooper. He then started to run along the wall, and then jump to the opposite wall and do the same, continuing to avoid blaster fire. He then pounced at the nearest trooper and slashes through his weapon and chest, killing him instantly.

Hiding behind another wall conduit, Ezra took cover from the remaining troopers, who continued to pour fire onto his position. He waved Hera forward, who emerged from her hiding space to open fire on the Imperials at the end of the hall, taking one of them down.

When she started to draw their fire, Ezra re-emerged and started to block the shots that were being sent Hera's way, back into the Imperials until only one remained. Ezra deactivated his saber and opened fire on the trooper, taking him down.

The corridor was now littered with the remains of eight stormtroopers.

"Nice work, Ezra." Hera said as she placed her hand on his shoulder. "Kanan taught you well."

Ezra smiled and shrugged.

"Now come on." Hera said as they moved deeper into the detention block.

But they eventually came across an intersection that led to multiple hallways filled with even more cells.

"Gah, how are we supposed to find him now?" Hera asked, frustrated.

Ezra walked into the middle of the intersection and sat down on his knees. He then started to reach out with the force, using the connection that he had to his master. But after a few moments, he heard screams, and felt terrible pain. And then he saw an image of Kanan being interrogated, before he was ripped from his vision.

"Kanan!" Ezra shouted, before he found himself on the ground.

"What is it?" Hera asked as she went to help him up. "What did you see?"

Ezra breathed heavily as he tried to recount his vision.

"I... I saw." Ezra stuttered. "It's Kanan. He was in pain."

Hera looked at him with worry. "Then we need to find him."

Ezra looked off in the direction that his vision was leading him to.

"I know where to find him." Ezra said, before he suddenly felt very cold. "And someone else."

* * *

_Interrogation chamber_.

Screams continued to echo from Kanan's cell as electricity covered his body, shocking all of his systems, while a seemingly bored Inquisitor watched over him.

"Still protecting you precious crew?" The Utapuan agent asked before he shut down the electro-probs. "Hm, quite admirable. But what I want to know is about the other rebels. We've already removed General Kota from the . But what about this . . . Fulcrum?"

"I'm not telling you anything," Kanan said between heavy breaths, "I'd rather give my life than tell you."

The Grand Inquisitor began to pace back and forth in front of the table. "So heroic. Just like your master. What was her name . . . Master Depa Billaba, was it?"

Kanan looked down. A move that caught the Inquisitor's attention.

"Ah, so it is true. You are Jedi Padawan Caleb Dume." The Inquisitor said before he leaned in next to Kanan's face. "Tell me, how did you survive Order 66?"

Kanan remained silent.

"Ah, she laid her life down for you, didn't she? What were her last words to you, before she died?"

Kanan's lip started to quiver, and his eyes started to become watery.

"What do you constantly hear when you wake from your nightmares? What did she say with her last dying breath, that still haunts you to this day?"

Then Kanan finally spoke in a hushed tone, uttering a single word. "Run."

The Inquisitor stood back up and walked away. "Ah, I see. And do your friends know? How do you think they would react if they found out their leader was a coward?" He asked as he pulled Kanan's lightsaber from another table and put it together before igniting it. "You're even afraid of your own power. You're not even brave enough to wear your full saber out in the open." He said before he pointed the blue blade in Kanan's face. "But let me tell you something, Jedi. You are right to be afraid. You couldn't save your master back then, and you can't help your followers now."

Suddenly, they heard the door open behind the inquisitor, and then two energy bolts flew through the open doorway, and the Inquisitor barely had time to block both of them with Kanan's lightsaber.

Kanan looked over the Grand Inquisitor's shoulder to see Ezra standing in the doorway. The young boy activated his lightsaber.

"Hey, baldly, come and get me." Ezra taunted.

"Ezra, no!" Kanan shouted.

The Inquisitor placed Kanan's saber on his belt before reached for his own, activating it and bringing one of the crimson blades to life. He then lunged forward and started to lash out against the young Jedi, who started to parry the Inquisitor's strikes. They took the fight out into the corridor, and were soon out of Kanan's sight.

He struggled to get out of the bonds, but to no avail.

But then, someone else entered his cell. A beautiful twi'lek wearing a form-fitting jumpsuit, which hugged her curvaceous body in all the right places. Her eyes emerald eyes sparkled, making her green face look angelic, making Kanan think for a moment that he had crossed into the afterlife.

"Hera?!" Kanan asked as she released his bonds, allowing him to slide down from the table. "What are you doing here?"

Before she answered him, she pressed up against him and pushed him against the table, before smashing her lips against his for one long, passionate kiss.

After a few moments, they broke apart. "What's the matter, love?" She asked as she cupped his cheeks. "Don't you know a rescue when you see one?"

He grasped her hands in his own before standing back up. He then kissed her knuckles in a gentlemanly sign of gratitude, before they both ran out to help Ezra, who was currently in the middle of a fight for his life.

* * *

Ezra fought as hard as he could, trying to stay of the Inquisitor's range and parrying his strikes. But he couldn't seem to get passed the Inquisitor's defenses. When the parried the Inquisitor's strikes, he crouched down and performed a sweeping saber strike, aimed at the Utapuan's legs.

But the Dark Side warrior jumped and then thrust his saber at Ezra's face, which he was able to block. With Ezra caught in a saber-lock, the Inquisitor broke the dead-lock to use the force, grabbing a hold of Ezra and tossing him into a nearby wall, and then into the ceiling, before finally slamming him down into the deck.

Ezra groaned as he struggled to get back up.

He looked up to see the Inquisitor pointing his red blade into his face.

"The master _and_ the apprentice, both in my grasp." The Inquisitor monologued in delight. "This is a very fortunate day."

"Wanna bet?" A new voice asked before the Inquisitor felt Kanan's lightsaber being snatched from his belt.

He turned around just in time to see the saber flying into Kanan's grasp. He then activated it, and assumed a fighting stance. The Inquisitor turned around and saw Ezra get back up, also assuming a defensive posture.

"Ah, finally a challenge worthy of my skill." The Grand Inquisitor said.

Kanan turned to Hera. "Hera, go find the others and find a way out of here. We'll catch up."

She nodded, and ran off to go join the others, leaving Kanan and Ezra to face the Inquisitor alone. For a few moments, nobody made a move, until Kanan launched his own attack, using a blaster pistol to open fire on the Inquisitor, who was forced to deflect the blasts as Kanan charged forward with his lightsaber and unleashed several strikes against the Dark Sider's defense.

The Inquisitor parried, and thrust his saber forward, trying to impale Kanan. But he dodged and tried to strike at the Inquisitor from the side, who jumped back in time to catch Kanan in a saber lock. But then, Ezra leaped into the fray, trying to strike the Dark Sider's exposed back.

The Inquisitor pushed Kanan back and activated the other end of his saber, using both blades to defend himself and parry the strikes of both Jedi.

But the Sith was a cornered animal that was going to fight hard to gat out of this mess alive.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

_Rebel flagship, Phoenix Home_.

On the bridge of a modified _Pelta_-class heavy transport, the _Phoenix Home_, Commander Jun Sato watched the battle above Mustafar taking place in front of him.

Several of the Golan-I orbital defense platforms had taken some damage in the initial bombing runs made by the rebels, but a pair of light cruisers and an Imperial Star Destroyer were effectively keeping the Rebels from launching any attacks on the surface.

Large, building-sized turbo-laser blasts pierced through some of the larger Rebel corvettes. But the smaller transports and gunships just disappeared in a puff of flame that lasted all of a few seconds.

Many TIE fighters were destroyed, but they could be replaced. The rebels had lost nearly half of their ships, and about three-fourths of their fighters, and their was almost no chance of replacing them. So they had to make every shot and ship count.

"_Commander Sato, the Sovereign's too strong. We've got to pull back._" Said a panicked voice over the comm.

The veteran commander stabbed his finger into the comm. "Negative. We have to rescue our operatives on the ground. We won't get another chance to attack this target. Take that monster of ship down no matter what the cost."

The Imperial Tie fighters continued to throw themselves at the rebel fleet with mixed success. But every time the Rebel ships got anywhere near the Star Destroyer's kill-zone it was a death sentence.

"All ships, engage." Sato ordered. "Wedged formation, Hammerhead cruisers in front."

On his order, every ship in the fleet engaged their thrusters and powered on towards the Imperial fleet. The trio of heavily armed _Sphyrna_-class corvettes took the brunt of the attack, while the remaining corvettes and fighters were tucked in behind.

Their heavy guns, combined with that of the fighters and corvettes, ripped the two Imperial light cruiser apart. But it came with a cost. Two of the hammerheads were ripped apart and shredded by Imperial turbo-laser fire at close range, before exploding with all hands aboard.

The last hammerhead, as well as the _Phoenix Home,_ were heavily damaged. But the former kept going, heading straight for the Star Destroyer with all remaining guns blazing. It managed to destroy one of the Shield generators on the bridge superstructure, heavily weakening the shields. The heavy corvette them rammed into the hull, causing a hull breech before exploding.

"Sir, the enemy ship's shields have faded." One of the crew members called out.

"Now's our chance. All remaining bombers, hit that destroyer with everything you've got."

On Sato's command, the six Y-wings that remained flew straight towards the Star-Destroyer.

Realizing what was about to happen, the Star Destroyer unleashed a barrage of turbo-laser fire onto the oncoming Y-Wings, throwing up a wall of green and black puffs of flak. One bomber was vaporized on impact, while another spun out of control after having its port-side engine sheered off.

But it was already too late, as the bombers unleashed their payload onto the hull of the destroyer, with some of the proton bombs hitting the hull breech from earlier, and striking the main reactor. Suddenly, all of the power in the Star Destroyer was shut down, leaving it just one giant paper weight, slowly succumbing to the planet's gravity.

The crew let out a hardy cheer as they scored their first Star Destroyer kill.

But as they passed, all Sato could see was the floating wreckage of rebel fighters and corvettes that was scattered all over the place, floating lifelessly into the never-ending void of space.

But Sato would have to mourn them later. They had a mission to complete. And the Commander watched as his ships knifed through the clouds towards the surface.

* * *

_ISD Sovereign_.

On the bridge of the crippled Star Destroyer, the crew were trying desperately to save their ship from being engulfed in flames. The crew was diverting all power into the engines, in order to escape the planet's gravity.

But to very little avail.

An officer ran up to Grand Moff Tarkin. "Sir, we've diverted all power to the engines. All we have left is emergency power and life support. But we don't have enough power. Respectfully, you might want to consider giving the order to abandon ship and-"

Tarkin turned around to face the young officer. "And you might want to consider diverting _all_ power to the engines. I've just sent a message to the rest of the fleet to send reinforcements. They'll tow the ship out of orbit and then crush the rebels. And you will return to your post, and save this ship."

But before another word could be uttered, a massive explosion erupted just in front of the bridge superstructure, right where the main reactor was located. Tarkin held his forehead and started massaging a headache before he turned around, and forced himself to look at the explosion. Just then, three more Star Destroyers and several support ships came out of hyperspace, with the intent of saving Tarkin's ship.

But clearly they were too late.

So Tarkin continued to stare at the flames, brooding.

"Sir, the ship lost." The officer said more assertively. "It's time to abandon ship."

Tarkin turned around and looked at the young man, who was expecting another backlash, only to be acknowledged by a silent nod. As the captain sounded the alarm to abandon ship, and the crew started to scramble to safety, Tarkin just casually walked through his ship one last time as he was escorted to the hanger where his personal shuttle awaited.

When he was finally flown off the ship, he watched as the _Sovereign_ continued to towards the surface, becoming engulfed in flames as it entered the atmosphere. As sheets of metal melted off of the hull, a powerful explosion ripped through the ship, scattering chunks of the ship into different directions across the planet.

"The rebels are heading for the surface, sir." The pilot said as he began to fly the ship towards the Imperial reinforcements.

Tarkin just continued to stare at the burning remains of his flagship of sixteen years. "I can see that for myself, lieutenant."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

_Gateway world_.

_Vader continued on through the temple, which was in rubble and on fire._

_But before he could continue, a sword was suddenly slashed through his right arm above the elbow, just like on Geonosis. He turned around in a rage to see who it was, expecting Count Dooku. Only it wasn't the Count._

_It was Qui-Gon Jinn. _

_"We should have left you on Tatooine." The vision said._

_Vader lashed out in anger and cut vision Qui-Gon in half at the waist._

_With that done, Vader kept going, with only one arm to defend himself with. He kept going until he heard someone running behind him. He turned around just in time to see an orange blur with two green lightsabers. But before he could get a good look at her, she jumped over his head and lashed out with one of her swords. A scar was left behind over his face, nearly taking his eye out._

_He held his face and groaned, before he turned around to see Ahsoka Tano standing before him._

_"I trusted you, master. But then you abandoned me. How could you do that?"_

_Vader growled out in anger before using the force to choke the life out of the former Jedi, before tossing her corpse aside, which disappeared in a puff of smoke. He continued on ahead until he found an archway leading out to a veranda. _

_The Temple was burning down all around him._

_He had to hurry._

_But before he stepped through, he saw two familiar figures standing on either side._

_Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Sidious. They were both dueling in front of Anakin's path._

_"Lord Vader. I have the power to save the one you love. Help me." Sidious said._

_"You were my brother Anakin, I loved you." Obi-Wan said._

_Anakin raised his arm and unleashed a powerful arc of red Sith lightning on of his old father figures, who both promised so much, yet delivered nothing but pain and misery. Both men disintegrated into ash, clearing the way in front of him._

_He finally stepped out onto the veranda, where he found a beautiful woman with creamy skin, and long, flowing brown hair with little blue flowers braided in, and wearing a blue gown, stood with her back to Vader. She looked out over the distant landscape, which was under constant bombardment from a purple lightning storm._

_Tears began to well up in Vader's eyes._

_"Padme." He said as he began to reach out. "I'm here. Take my hand. Come with me. I can save you. I can save us both."_

_She didn't move. But she did speak._

_"Are you an angel?" She asked before she turned to face him. "They're the most beautiful creatures in the universe?" _

_"Please?" Vader pleaded. "We have to go."_

_"Why? I don't know you," Padme said before her face began to glow red, and lightning lashed out from her hands, blasting off Vader's legs. He began to scream in agony before he looked back up to her. She wore a demonic smile, and her face began to decay. "Anakin Skywalker is dead. And you killed him."_

_"No!" Vader said._

_"You killed me." Padme said before she began to choke herself, before she fell back over the veranda and began to fall to her death._

_"NNOOOO!" Vader screamed._

* * *

A huge explosion of Force energy sent Vader flying from the portal, and smashed him into the opposite wall.

He was wearing his armor once again. And he was once again without the one he loved most.

"No!" He said as he clenched his fists. "NO!"

He then slammed his robotic arms into the rock slab that allowed the portal to form in the first place.

The purple and red light that illuminated the cave was now gone, and only darkness remained. He sat there in silence for hours, before suddenly, he could hear the Fortress' alarms going off.

"_All personnel, we are under attack. This is not a drill._"

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

_Fortress Vader, exterior, landscape_.

Outside, on the molten landscape of Mustafar, an army of native warriors, riding large lava beetles, charged towards the fortress that belonged to the Bane of Mustafar himself. The Imperial garrison rallied to defend the castle. And with the defense grid down, the automatic turrets and electric mines outside were down, making it much harder to defend the base.

Stormtroopers gathered on the outer walls of the Fortress perimeter and fired down on the beetles that were charging across open ground. Many warriors and beetles fell to the ground below when they were hit, but dozens more took their place.

But the Stormtroopers were running low on ammo and being overrun, and the beetles began to spew lava from their maws to melt dozens of stormtroopers, and even the large turbo-laser towers that kept the skies clear weren't safe from this onslaught. The Stormtroopers fell back to the inner wall of Vader's castle, and held firm, sending waves of blast bolts at the oncoming beetles, dead bodies of which began to pile up against the perimeter wall.

TIE fighters screamed overhead and peppered the landscape with dual laser fire.

"Keep firing! We can beat these things back." The commander called out to his men.

"Sir, look!"

Suddenly, several chunks of debris from what had once been an Imperial Star-Destroyer pierced the clouds like meteorites, and slammed into the ground. Seconds later, a fleet of rebel CR-90 corvettes and A-wing star-fighters swooped in and attacked the fortress.

Explosions blossomed on the side of the castle, and the TIE fighters were forced to peel off to engage the rebel air support.

Turbo-laser towards were then melted by the lava spewing war beetles that continued to swarm over the Fortress grounds.

This was all clearly apart of a large coordinated effort between the natives and the rebels to destroy this castle and whoever ruled from it. The natives attacked from the ground, with support from rebels in the air.

"Fall back!" The commander called out to his remaining men. "Fall back to the Fort's interior!"

"You will do no such thing!" A deep voice said, booming across the Fort's inner courtyard.

The troopers turned to see Lord Vader walking down the courtyard, completely ignoring the explosions and blaster bolts whizzing past him. He the raised his hands, and an invisible force grabbed a hold of two U-Wing gunships that were flying circles around the Fort. They were them slammed into each other, creating a massive ball of fire in the sky.

Vader then stood on the wall, and then waved to his troopers. "Show the natives and rebel filth the meaning of Empire." He then ignited his lightsaber. "Let me show you."

The Dark Lord then jumped down from the wall and started hacking away at the native warriors that tried to swarm him. He even cut open one of the massive lava beetles, and the lava poured out of its belly, and began to melt the native warriors surrounding it.

The stormtroopers of the 501st Legion watched as their Dark Lord used the force to blast waves of warriors into the lava rivers below, and slash through many more with his lightsaber.

"You heard Lord Vader. Attack!" The commander shouted as he jumped off the wall to join Lord Vader.

Dozens of more troopers followed.

"For Lord Vader!"

"For the Empire!"

The Stormtroopers opened fire, and began cutting down any native that Lord Vader missed. As the battle wore on, the burning sulfur began to stick to the Stormtrooper armor. It amounted them, and gave their white armor a dark, gritty look

When their blaster packs ran dry, they turned to their vibe-blades, and began hacking away at the natives. And when their blades turned dull, they used their hands. They were all inspired by the presence of Lord Vader.

They were the 501st Legion.

Some were veterans of the Clone Wars, while others were fresh-faced humans from many different parts of the galaxy to fight for the Empire.

They were Vader's Fist.

The Emperor's elite.

They were unbeatable.

And as far as the Native warriors of Mustafar were concerned, that statement was fact.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

_Detention area, Fortress Vader_.

Back in the depths of Vader's Castle, Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger continued to fight against the Grand Inquisitor. Both Jedi attacked viciously from either side, using quick strikes to keep the Sith warrior on the defensive.

The Inquisitor used the force to push Ezra back down the hall, before turning to Kanan. He then swung his spinning saber over Kanan's head, who ducked just in time, only to be knead in the face. When Kanan stumbled back, the Inquisitor delivered a pair of swift kicks that sent Kanan back onto the ground.

Just before Kanan and Ezra could re-engage the Inquisitor, an A-wing fighter crashed into the side of the building, before plowing into the detention area. Ezra could sense it, and jumped forward out of the way, just before he could be run over by the fiery crash.

That's when the Inquisitor threw his dual-edged saber at Ezra, who barely had time to react. He held his saber up to block the spinning sword, which deflected off of his defenses, but still slashed at his cheek.

"AHH!" Ezra yelled as he dropped his saber and stumbled back

"Ezra!" Kanan shouted, before his apprentice stumbled back and fell through the hole in the side of the building, and falling out of sight to the lava rivers below. "NO!"

The Inquisitor watched in satisfaction as Kanan grieved over the loss of his apprentice.

Kanan then looked at the Inquisitor with a glare that could kill. "You shouldn't have done that."

The Inquisitor smiled. "Why? Are you upset that you have no one left to die for you?"

Kanan shook his head. "No. Now I have nothing left to fear." He said as he summoned Ezra's lightsaber to him, giving himself a second weapon.

The Inquisitor was stunned slightly by Kanan's newfound resolve. Both fighters assumed a defensive stance before they charged at one another, and parrying and striking at one another. But as they fought, Ezra managed to climb back up the side of the building and into the hole he fell out of, with his hand covering the two scars that were left on his face by the Inquisitor.

He was dreading the idea of climbing back up to see his teacher's corpse before the devilish Utapaun. But was relieved to see that not only was Kanan still alive, he was holding his own.

Ezra's com-link started to beep. He then answered it, and found that it was Hera.

"_Ezra. We're waiting for you two at the landing pad. I've been trying to reach Kanan. Is he alright?_" She asked with concern.

The young boy from Lothal just continued to watch the fight, as Kanan used two lightsabers, and the blaster function, to keep the Sith warrior on the defensive, as he frantically tried to parry all of Kanan's successive saber strikes.

Ezra nodded before he spoke into the com-link. "Yeah. I think he's better than okay."

As he said this, the Inquisitor began to spin his lightsaber to try and push Kanan back. But he only created an opening for Kanan to plunge both sabers into the circular hand guard, and slice the red lightsabers to pieces, leaving the Inquisitor unarmed.

Terrified and disarmed, the Inquisitor began to walk backwards, unaware of Ezra walking up behind him.

Ezra used the force to push the Inquisitor forward towards Kanan, who used the hilt of his main saber to bonk the Sith warrior on the head, sweep his leg out, and trip the Inquisitor, who fell onto his back.

Kanan, pointing his saber at the Inquisitor's neck. He then looked up, and was surprised, but relieved, to see that Ezra was still alive, before tossing him his lightsaber. He then gave a nod of approval before turning back to the Inquisitor.

"You're beaten. I suppose the dark side isn't as powerful as you boast." Kanan said.

The Inquisitor bared his teeth and snarled. "Fool, you have no idea what you and your little rebellion have unleashed here today."

"What are you talking about?" Ezra asked, holding the tip of his saber at the Inquisitor's tattooed forehead.

But before any questions could be answered, the Inquisitor used the force to make Kanan plunge his saber into his chest, much to the Jedi's shock.

"There... there are, some things, that are worse ..." He started to say before the life drained from his eyes, "than death."

When the inquisitor was finally dead, Kanan withdrew his saber. He and Ezra shared a look of uncertainty, before the building was rocked by another explosion.

"Let's get out of here." Kanan said, before they started running out of the detention block.

* * *

_Modified VCX-100 Light Freighter, the _Ghost.

As the battle of Fortress Vader continued down below, a mysterious hooded figure watched from high above through holo-table that recorded the whole scene. The agent, going by the code-name 'Fulcrum' skipped through the different camera angles and watched the battle from several different ships and corvettes that were on station.

Fulcrum saw the castle on fire, and fighters chasing one another in the ash-filled skies above.

But one image above all else caught the agent's attention.

The image of Darth Vader, who the agent has been trying to uncover more knowledge about since the end of the Clone Wars.

"Hm, there's just no way you could be capable of this much destruction," Fulcrum said in a hushed tone.

That's when a transmission was put out on all channels. Coming from one of Fulcrum's newest contacts.

Hera Syndulla.

Fulcrum answered it, and could immediately hear blaster fire in the background.

"_Mayday, mayday, this is Hera Syndulla of Specter team. We're on platform D on the cliff-facing side of the Fortress. We need pickup, right away._"

"This is Fulcrum. We're reading you, Captain Syndulla. And we're on station to assist. We'll be down as soon as possible."

Hera couldn't make out what Fulcrum's real voice was on the other side of the comm, for the voice was distorted to cover up the true identity. Just the way any secret agent would want to keep it.

"_Copy that. Thank you, Fulcrum. We'll be waiting_."

Fulcrum then walked over to the cockpit of the Ghost, where two member of her personal spec ops team were flying the ship, while the droid known as Specter three navigated.

"Ma'am, the landing zone's a bit hot. Are you sure that you want to make this landing?"

"There are operatives down there that are crucial to our cause. We can't afford to lose them." She said. "Now take us down."

The pilot acknowledged and flew down into the battle below.

* * *

_Fortress Vader, Landing Platform_.

Hera, Zeb, and Sabine were all pinned down on the landing pad by Stormtroopers. Both sides continued to exchange fire, but the rebels were running out of gas clips to charge their weapons.

Hera decided to try her comm one more time. "Kanan, where are you, we're taking heavy fire!"

But then she heard a familiar voice that wasn't coming from the comm.

"I'm a little pre-occupied at the moment!" Kanan shouted as he and Ezra charged onto the platform, using the force to push the squad of Stormtroopers aside.

Hera and her comrades soon realized that their two Jedi companions were being chased by a squad of Imperial Purge Troopers. Elite troopers that were trained to hunt Jedi.

The Jedi made a stand and began to deflect the enemy blaster fire. But these troopers were much smarted than most, and began to fan out and fire on the Jedi from multiple angles, making it much more difficult to defend themselves. Hera, Zeb, and Sabine joined in to keep pressure off of their Jedi friends.

But the troopers turned out to be equipped with shield generators.

The rebels couldn't keep up, and were about to be overrun. But when all hope seemed lost, a volley of proton torpedoes were unleashed onto the castle entrance, demolishing the door, and the corridor that led into the palace.

Then blaster fire was unleashed onto the Purge Troopers.

The Specters turned around to see their ship, their home, hovering above the platform, and slowly touching down to land. When the lower ramp opened up, a squad of Alliance Commandoes stormed onto the platform and began to provide covering fire for the specters.

"Heard you guys could use a ride out of here!" The squad leader called out as he and his men began to lay down heavy blaster fire on the remaining Imperial troopers.

"Glad you guys decided to join the party," Sabine called out before she and the others started towards the ship.

"Likewise, now get aboard. Move! Move!"

Ezra and Kanan were the last to start boarding, using their lightsabers to cover the commandoes as they began to filing back onto the ship. As the _Ghost_ started to take off, Kanan and Ezra leaped onto the ramp before it could close, before taking off into the sky.

But unbeknownst to anyone, one intrepid Imperial Purge Trooper lined up a perfect shot on the escaping rebel ship, placing a tracking device on the hull, and indicating it's flight path directly to the trooper, and soon the entire Imperial Fleet.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

_Outer Perimeter, Vader's Castle_.

Back on the surface, Imperial Stormtroopers continued to fight off wave after waver of native warriors.

Under normal circumstances, troopers would have broken at the sight of such an overwhelming force. But under the leadership of Lord Vader, they realized that the garrison itself was an overwhelming force.

The troopers used their superior training to draw the natives into overlapping fields of fire, and slaughter them by the handful.

Vader stood over the wall and continued to deflect blaster fire coming from the natives, and used the force to keep their beetle mounds from spewing lava onto the defenses, instead throwing it back at them.

Rebel warships continued to circle around the Fortress, firing on the defense towers and blasting away at the walls and hanger bays. Unfazed, Vader reached up and used the force to grab a hold of one of the Corellian Corvettes and smashed it against the surface, swiping it through the army of natives like a large broomstick. He then used the force to cause geysers of lava to spew up from the rivers, and throwing rebel fighters that were too close to the ground off course, or risk flying into molten lava.

It was a deadly display that made fighting Darth Vader seem almost pointless.

* * *

High above the battlefield, Commander Sato and his crew watched from the _Phoenix Home_'s bridge as the men and women of Phoenix Squadron tried to swarm the Fortress, only to be blasted out of the sky by the Imperial defenders, who rallied to the Sith Lord's side.

But the Natives were having the worst time of all, for the Sith Lord they came here to destroy was just unstoppable.

"_How can this monster cause so much destruction?_" One of the pilots asked over the comm.

"Keep pressing the attack," Sato said.

Suddenly, a hologram of Sato's superior, Fulcrum, materialized in front of him. As usual's the agent's features were obscured, and the voice was heavily edited. "_Commander, pull the fleet back to the Lothal Sector. There's been enough suffering today._"

Sato was shocked. "_But, Fulcrum-_"

Just as he said this, a second CR90 corvette exploded as a plume of lava exploded out of the rivers below and engulfed it in molten magma. The ship then exploded and crashed into the cliff, killing many more lava beetles and their riders.

"_Our main objective has been complete." _Fulcrum said_. "Withdraw the fleet before we suffer anymore casualties_."

Then the hologram disappeared. Everyone turned to Sato, who frowned as he once again had to withdraw his forces.

"Well, you heard her. Let's get back to the Rendezvous point." Sato ordered.

The helmsmen nodded, before bringing the ship about and leading what was left of Phoenix Squadron back up to the atmosphere, where Imperial reinforcements were securing the system.

* * *

_Imperial Perimeter Wall, Gahenn Plains_.

Vader watched as the fleet escaped. As his stormtroopers mopped up what was left of the natives, he began to turn back towards the Fortress.

But then he sensed something.

A presence that he had not felt since the Clone Wars.

If it was who he thought it was, then he could not allow her to interfere with his plans.

He stormed off to the command center, where he was pleased to find out that the rebel fleet was being tracked. It was time to see what the Rebels were up to.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**Well folks, that was part 3 of this story.**

**I hope that you're enjoying this story so far.**

**I'll try to get part 4 published as soon as possible.**

**Until then, this is Grubkiller, signing out.**


	4. Part 4-Raxus Prime

**Have no fear, Grubkiller is here.**

**Hey guys and gals, here's the latest part of this story.**

**I'm terribly sorry that it's been so long since my last update. But between the progress being erased by my stupid computer, and work and school, getting this chapter up was frustrating to say the least.**

**Anyway, please enjoy this latest chapter.**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

_Raxus System_.

The junkyard world of Raxus Prime was in the Tion Hegemony on the Outer Rim, so there was time during the journey from Mustafar for Starkiller and his compatriots to refresh and research their objectives. Much to Juno's relief, the apprentice was as distracted as she felt. He kept asking PROXY to repeat details he had missed while deep in though. Eventually he excused himself to enter the ship's small meditation chamber and gather his energies.

She did the same, in her own way, by reclining her seat and putting her feet up on the instrument panel. There was time at last for that short nap she had promised herself.

But everything she had learned in the previous few hours kept circling through her mind, making it hard for her to relax. For the hundredth time, she reminded herself to forget Vader and the Emperor and concentrate on the mission at hand. If she was going to have insomnia, she might as well think about something useful.

Their target, Kazden Paratus was an odd beast by anyone's definition. PROXY was unable to reproduce his form because all physical details of this particular Jedi had been erased from the records - perhaps by the paranoid old Master himself. Patchy Jedi files accredited him with considerable skill at droid making, responsible for numerous one-of-a-kind machines possessing abilities far beyond those of ordinary droids. In recognition for his talents, the Jedi Council had made him the Temple's official engineer and allow him a dedicated workshop on Coruscant.

The Clone Wars had lured him out of seclusion to study the CIS's droid armies. Life on the front line had afforded him numerous opportunities to examine the droid scraps, while at the same time building medical droids, power droids, and other units designed to support the Clone Army.

Once, in a disastrous campaign that saw most of his men get killed, he cobbled together a makeshift contingent of combat droids that helped him and his depleted battalion drive back a droid attack.

But when Order 66 was issued, he just disappeared, never to be seen again.

Until now.

Now he had turned up on Raxus Prime, a planet that served as a dumping ground for garbage, derelict ships, and industrial wastes, likely because he preferred the company of machines.

What threat could a droid-maker possibly pose to Starkiller, who made short work of General Kota, after all.

Her thoughts drifted. She entered a dream-like state midway between waking and sleep. The slightest flicker on the control board and she'd be alert, but otherwise she was at rest. If not entirely at peace . . .

* * *

_"They have no defenses," she informed Lord Vader over her TIE bomber's comms. "The battle is over."_

_"It is far from over, Captain Eclipse. Continue your assault."_

_Teeth grinding, she clenched her flight stick woth both hans and considered her alternatives. She would never disobey a direct order, but the consequences . . ._

_"I sense your disapproval, Captain. Speak your mind if you must."_

_Wasn't he reading it already? She shuddered at the thought. "With respect, sir, it would be genocide to maintain the bombardment - a completely unnecessary waste of life. They are already beaten."_

_"Since you feel so strongly on this matter, Captain, I will give you an alternative course of action. Strike the planetary reactor at the following coordinates, and strike it hard. Once that is out of action, I will consider this mission complete."_

_The coordinates came, and she breathed an inaudible sigh of relief. One precision strike was infinitely preferable to blanket bombing. "Thank you, Lord Vader."_

_"Your gratitude is wasted on me. Give me success, Captain. That is all."_

_The channel closed, and she relayed the orders to the rest of the Black Eight squadron. One small victory in a much larger battle: she couldn't afford to dwell on it. Readying her payload, she plotted a course down through the atmosphere of Callos, glad that she would add only a little more damage to all that the little green world had already suffered . . . _

* * *

Juno woke from the dream with a start.

Lights ere winking on the _Rogue Shadow's _console. "Tell your master we are coming out of the jump soon," she said to the droid. "If this is a trap like Nar Shaddaa, he will want to be ready."

"I will inform him," PROXY told her as she finetuned the ship's drives in readiness for their arrival.

When Starkiller entered the cockpit behind her, wearing a makeshift hazardous environment suit, with thick, heavy-duty fabrics to protect against the caustic environment of the planet, a large wrap-around cape to protect his neck and the lower half of his face, and heavy metal gauntlets to protect his hands from the jagged metal edges in the Raxus wastes.

The streaked starscape of hyperspace snapped back to normality. The world's gravity gripped them. Sublight engines brought the _Rogue Shadow _around so they were oriented correctly and heading into the desired orbit, the planet welcoming them in all its decrepit glory.

It had just as much metal on its surface as Nar Shaddaa, but the similarities ended their. One was alive with light and commerce, and the other was a steaming dump inhabited by scavengers and scum.

It stood in stark contrast to neighboring Raxus Secundas, which served as the CIS capital in the Clone Wars, with its rocky mountains, ongoing green fields, its sparkling lakes and oceans, and the gleaming skyscrapers of Raxulon.

Even the planet's orbital lanes were filled with junk, crawling with tiny vessels and medium freighters that were combing the junk for anything of value.

As Juno gently navigated through the mess, PROXY manned the co-pilot's seat. Starkiller, when he came, stood behind them both, assessing the scene through the cockpit viewport.

"PROXY," he asked, " are you picking up any communications yet?"

The droid put a metal hand to his forehead and made a strange noise.

"Too many to decipher." His photoreceptors flickered unexpectedly; he tilted forward, as if in pain. "I can hear thousands calling out to one another." He looked up at his master, who studied him with a frown. "This is where droids go to die."

"What about the target?" Starkiller asked.

"I can't hear any clues that would lead us to him."

Juno's eyes widened. Her right index finger came up to draw her companions' attention back to the view. "What about starting over there?"

So saying, she banked the ship to starboard, the better to reveal the structure she had just discovered.

Five slender towers rose up out of the junk piles like a surreal tribute to the past. The Central tower was the tallest of the five, with a boxy structure near its tip that always made her think of old-fashioned torpedo fins. The other four were simpler, less ornate. Although undoubtedly made of junk itself, their unique lines could not be mistaken for those of any monument in the galaxy.

"Amazing. It looks exactly like the Imperial Palace on Coruscant," she said, referring to the structure that had once bene the Jedi Temple.

Starkiller nodded as he pulled a scarf from his cape over his mouth. "Set us down as close as you can."

She searched the surrounding area through a thick drizzle of oily rain. "I'll do my best. There are few clearings. You'll need to approach it on foot."

The _Rogue Shadow_ banked gently from side to side as it traversed the garbage-laden magnetic lanes and cleared two large mountains of debris. The deeper she took the ship into the atmosphere, the dimmer the sun became, and the greener its light seemed.

"There," she said, finally finding a space large enough for the _Rogue Shadow_ to settle ... over a large pong of corrosive acid with large metal beams and shards jutting out of it. "With a lake view and everything . . ."

"Circle past the Temple and wait for my signal," he commed in a businesslike tone.

"Be careful," she sent a reply. "The sludge out there looks corrosive." She waited until the black and tan-clad figure had progressed in inhumanly long leaps from the metal ruin to metal ruin and finally disappeared from sight before pushing the repulsors to maximum and angling the ship up into the sky. She was glad to be doing so. In just the few seconds the hatch had been open, a foul stench had filled the ship from nose to tail.

"Juno out."

* * *

_Near the Junk Temple, Raxus Prime_.

Starkiller barely heard his pilot sign off as he hurried through the toxic wasteland that was the surface of Raxus Prime. His concentration was intense, fending off distractions from every side: the stench rising from the lake; the sharp and treacherous terrain; the sound of wind whistling through the twisted spires and snapped support barriers of the foul forest he found himself in. He kept his mind focused on his prey: the mad droid maker, Kazdan Paratus.

And he certainly was mad considering the place he chose to hide.

The spires of the mock Jedi Temple were invisible behind the mountains of wreckage.

The apprentice chose not to dwell too much on the disgusting image of Raxus Prime. He had one job to do, to the very best of his abilities. He had no intention of doing otherwise. Rahm Kota may have tested him, but he had emerged superior in the end. There was nothing that this insane little toy-tinker could through at him that he wasn't prepared for. He was sure of it.

Raised under the careful eye of his dark Master, his skills had been honed to the point that not even Jedi could stand against him. Soon, very soon, he would stand at Darth Vader's side and take the ultimate challenge of all: the Emperor.

Juno's voice came from the com-link. "_There is some sort of activity near a downed corvette north of your position._"

"What kind of activity?"

"I'm not certain. We are in the upper atmosphere now, and there is a lot of interference. Proxy is picking up panicked transmissions, and what might be droid signatures heading in that direction."

"You think it could be a welcoming committee?"

"Maybe, I - whoa!" A blast of static was followed by a relieved gasp from Juno.

"What's wrong?" he said into the comlink.

"Nothing now. I just got too close to one of those magnetic lanes, and an unstable derelict exploded. Everything's under control. You just worry about keeping your boots clean."

Starkiller half smiled and kept moving through the teetering piles of garbage along a stretch that resembled a canyon with sheer walls and squelching floor. Only then, after Juno's brief communication, did he notice an odd thing.

He had yet to see a single droid.

If this was where droids came to die, as PROXY put it, then where were their bodies?

He sensed movement ahead and slowed his pace to an ordinary walk, then a more stealthy creep as voices became audible, too. Not human voices: but a mixture of electronic babble and high-pitched, Rodese.

Droids and Rodians.

As far as he knew, his orders remained the same: _Leave no witnesses_.

With a flourish, he activated his lightsaber and kept it at the ready.

* * *

The first set of droids that he encountered were nothing but jumbled messes of metal and wiring, which were held together by very little. They had strange limbs made up of the haphazard junk around them, from metal pipes to vibro-blades. They appeared out of the junk cliffs, causing small avalanches as they emerged from their slumber.

The lumbering monstrosities marched forward as one. But the apprentice would not be intimidated. The first droid was met with a blast of lightning, before it exploded into a shower of metal fragments, which peppered his already scarred and dirty face. The others tried to swing at him with their arsenal of melee weapons. Starkiller used his lightsaber to expertly parry their blows and slash their weapons to pieces on contact.

Disarmed, the droids continued to march forward. Starkiller blasted them with several successive force pushes, which only seemed to make them stumble over, or lumber at a slower rate. Not wanting to have to spend hours on end fighting them, Starkiller used the force to make the canyon of junk and metal around them collapse on either side, causing a massive avalanche, which buried all of the droids under a thick layer of trash.

It may not have killed them, but it surely slowed them down.

Continuing on the path, the apprentice eventually found the corvette that Juno was talking about. Using electro-binoculars and standing on a teetering hill of junk, the apprentice could see the site surrounded by heavily armed green-skinned Rodian scavengers, which surrounded the crash site while the little brown-robed Jawas, who were either coerced into service or bribed, used their blowtorches to cut the ship apart and strip it down for parts. Tracked vehicles and hover skiffs were parked nearby, ready to transport their booty away.

But the strange part was that these scavengers were being attacked by the very bizarre amalgamations of rusted scrap he had ever seen.

The droids that were supposedly junked years ago were cobbled together with spare parts, missing limbs and photo-receptors, using blunt instruments and unstable blasters as replacement limbs.

The lumbering abominations marched towards the scavengers, who panicked and opened fire with everything they had. Many of the droids were shot to pieces, but they didn't go down. Every time they fell apart from repeating blaster fire, they were immediately reformed by an invisible energy.

"Juno, I'm not sure what I'm looking at here," he said into his comlink.

"_I'm just picking up some panicked transmissions. It looks like a scavenger group has run into droid resistance._" She said.

"Do Imperial records have any reports of Rodian scavengers on Raxus Prime?" He asked.

"_Accessing data bank now_."

While she searched, he continued to watch the scavengers and droids duke it out. The massive droids took a serious beating, and were able to kill several of the Rodians, and a couple Jawas.

A few droids even made their way into the ship, trying to take it over and overrun the crash. But the Rodians weren't having it, and used heavy weapons and explosives to drive off the droids.

It seemed as though the droids were metallic zombies, but with no power source. As if they were being powered by ... the Force.

Of course. The mad Jedi was using his robotic and force skills to create an army to protect the Mock Temple.

"_Looks like you stumbled across Drexl Roosh and his clan. He's wanted for thirty-eight counts of fraud, selling faulty material, and illegal slave trading._"

A slow smile crept across his face. "I think we've discovered where he's getting all of his goods."

When the last of the droids were put down, one of the Rodians, a purple one with a jet-pack and heavy armor, began yelling at the others in Basic, adding insults to the Jawas for good measure.

"Move faster, you scum! Those droids keep disrupting our operation." He waved a large blade with imperious disdain, not caring whom it struck. He began strutting back and forthself-importantly. "If you bottom feeders don't get these Jawas moving, I'm going to add another ten thousands credits to each of your heads! Do you hear me?"

That's when another skirmish broke out as more of these 'droids' seemed to come back from the dead, and killed some of the Rodians that were watching over the Jawas, and started breaking into the ship again. The Jawas responded by running for cover, while the other Rodians tried to fight off the droids. The apprentice watched with amusement as the pointless skirmish unfolded, ending with three showers of droid fragments and another bad smell added to the air.

"Blast it!" Drexl cursed. "You idiots, clean up this mess and come back to camp with something we can sell, or don't come back at all!"

His jetpack ignited and the purple Rodian lifted off from the waste-strewn surface. With a roaring noise, he sped into a tunnel leading deeper into Maxus Prime's trash infrastructure, leaving small fires in his superheated wake.

Suddenly, several droids appeared right next to him, bursting out of the junk piles around him one rusting limb at a time. As he used his lightsaber and force abilities to slice and blast them to pieces, a transmission came from his com-link.

"How strange," PROXY said, "The scanners aren't picking up any power signatures from those droids... It's as if they are being powered by ..."

"The Force..." the apprentice finished as he used the force to crush another droid, blast it with force lightning, and then crash it into another droid, making them both explode.

The apprentice, believing that it was time to get on with his mission, began to climb down through the litter of foothills.

* * *

A Rodian sentry, still jittery from the skirmish with the droids, barely had time to squawk in his alien tongue before the apprentice silenced him forever with a quick sweep of his red blade.

He hurried by, into the bowels of the corvette. A ramp had been added to aid the Jawas in their exploration and evisceration of the ship. It led up to a shallow angle into a stack of collapsed levels that had once been the crew midsection. He ran lightly along it, making no sound at all.

Barely had he entered than an alarm went up - triggered not by him, but in response to a new influx of the mysterious zombie droids. The effect was the same. Every Rodian scavenger was on alert. His job instantly became that much more complicated.

A herd of Jawas ran by, squeaking, their glowing yellow eyes flashing on and off. He let them go, not having a second to spare, and followed the most likely route to the hyperdrive. When a pair of Rodians stepped out of a hole in the wall ahead of him, he didn't give them a chance to raise their blasters. He sliced one in two while the other fell back clutching his throat.

"_Are you having fun down there_?" came Juno's voice over the com.

"I'm making progress," he said as his objective came into sight. The turbines of the massive hyperdrive lay dead ahead, their shielding removed in preparation for extraction elsewhere. Naked conduits and cable bundles snaked into the walls or hung limp, severed, on the floor.

"_Progress at what?" _she asked him_. "Making things complicated?"_

He didn't respond. Her tone was boderline insolent, but she did have a point. Time was passing. The last thing he wanted was to get caught up in a despite between Drexl's band and Kazdan Paratus' army of zombie-droid abominations. The sooner he was moving toward his objective, the better.

Another Rodian came running up the corridor behind him, firing at his back. He deflected the shots with his lightsaber and brought the ceiling down on the raider, effectively sealing himself into the hyperdrive access room.

_No matter_.

The walls were weak with metal fatigue. He could punch out in an instant when he was finished.

Kneeling in front of the turbines, he took a handful of cables in both hands and called on the Force. Energy surged through him, making him stiffen. Sith lightning sparked from his skin and snaked through the ragged metal walls, floor, and ceiling. Distantly he heard screams as the many beings inside the wrecked corvette suffered from the aftereffects. He ignored them, along with the smell of smoke rising from his own tattered uniform.

_Focus_, he told himself. Undirected power was power wasted. Gritting his teeth, he gathered the energy and directed it down his arms, into his hands. Blue light strobed across across his vision as the lightning flowed into the wires and from there into the hyperdrive turbines. Groaning, then shrieking, the massive engine came alive. Damaged, completely out of alignment, and barely controllable, the turbine shook with propulsive power, then strained against the braces still holding it to the corvette's warped chassis.

The deck kicked underneath the apprentice. He swayed as the entire corvette shifted. With a terrible sound, it began to move, plowing a brutal furrow through the surrounding rubbish. He could picture it clearly in his imagination and through the vibrant flow of the Force. As the lightning poured through him and into the engine, it pushed the stricken corvette physically out of his path. The way to the Temple was now clear.

When he sensed that it had gone far enough, he relaxed his concentration. Smaller discharges of energy skittered across his skin. Somewhat shakily, he stood, then almost toppled over as the engine continued to fire, sending the corvette onward, out of his control.

He hadn't expected that. There was enough residual potential in the turbine to keep it running for dozens of seconds. He had to get out of the corvette before it dragged him any farther from his goal.

Straining, he blew a hole in the side of the downed ship wide enough for a TIE fighter to pass through. The wall of a junk canyon was gliding by, raining rubbish. With one smooth leap, he caught hold of dangling cable and swung free of the wreck. It roared on, dragging itself through the dregs of the galaxy on its disintegrating belly, sending waves of disturbed filth radiating outward from its path.

"_Are you creating a distraction, Starkiller," _squawked Juno from the comm_, "Or trying to draw attention to yourself?_"

"Choose the answer you prefer," he said as he swung from cable to cable back the way the corvette had come. Scattered Jawas in singed robes were clambering into their transports to give chase to the corvette. He ignored them, used Sith lightning to blast a dozen of Kazdan Paratus' mechanical abominations that rushed him with their electric claws and raised, then turned left where the corvette had formerly rested to resume his approach to the strange parody of the Jedi Temple.

* * *

The structure's base was either buried under or part of the endless dump that was Raxus Prime surface. Starkiller ascended cautiously to the foyer, where buckled armor plates had been hammered as close to flat as was possible and welded into approximately level floors. Abandoned thrust tubes stood in for marble columns. Sensor arrays made reasonable facsimiles of window frames, and curving tank walls created the illusion of arched ceilings high above.

But beneath all of the 'beauty', the stench of decay remained, and with every step he took, the floor shifted and creaked. Wires and decaying insulation protruded from the seams. In every corner lurked piles of rubbish that have been festering since long before even the Republic's founding.

As the apprentice walked cautiously forward, feeling the nearness of Kazdan Paratus but uncertain of his exact location.

Suddenly, one of the trash piles stirred. From it stepped a humanoid machine made from the junked droid parts he had expected to find on his journey.

The braincase of an FX-8 med droid was bolted onto a body cobbled together from several types of outdated protocol droid models. its limbs appeared to come from a mixture of EV and B1 battle droids, tipped with instruments and tools that wouldn't have looked out of place in a workshop, but were now being used as weapons. It's sole functioning photoreceptor glared a bright, furious yellow. Its lurching gait achieved an appreciable speed before Starkiller sliced its head off in one fluid motion of red light.

A second patchwork droid emerged from a different rubbish pile, followed by a third. The sound of more droid golems stirring came from elsewhere in the Temple. Starkiller fought them off with practiced ease, moving around like a red blur of light. He had been dueling PROXY all his life; he knew the weaknesses and strengths of droids, even one capable of imitating a Jedi. Ones such as these, with mismatched parts and held together by spit and prayers, were child's play.

Soon the foyer was full of twitching, smoking and sparking bodies of the 'Temple's' helpless guardians. He began to tire, not from exertion but from the tedium of knocking down droid after droid, to no apparent end. There might be hundreds of them.

Deactivating his lightsaber, he took a deep breath. With one mighty exhalation of power, he blasted all of them out of the foyer he blasted the junk piles after them. He kept pushing until an artificial hurricane of droid parts soared out over Raxus Prime's hideous landscape.

When the foyer was clear, Starkiller straightened and ran toward the elevator door at the end of the foyer. He was no longer pushing with the Force, but the floor beneath him shook nonetheless. A heavy booming sound came from deeper in the Temple, and was getting Louder. He had certainly attracted someone's attention now.

A huge junk titan smashed through through the door that he wanted to use, servomotors growling, brandishing two of the biggest vibro-axes he had ever seen, one in each hand. It took two steps toward him and angled its Vulture droid head at him in barely restrained hostility.

It then swung its massive weapons at him.

The apprentice dodged away and temporarily lost his footing as the floor buckled underneath the thing's weight. Re-igniting his lightsaber, he slashed one of the reaching axe appendages clean off. He then shocked the fallen blade and used the force to sending the sparking projectile through the massive droid like a spear. Impaled, the angry droid began to stumble, while trying to bring his reaming axe-arm to bare. But Starkiller got under his defense, and slashed at the trunk-like metal legs, causing the droid to stumble back and fall.

With the droid off its massive feet, Starkiller jumped onto its chest and began slashing away at anything that looked important or weak. He then charged lighting into his hands, causing lightning to permeate his blade, which he then plunged into the titan's Vulture droid head.

The droid began to whine until its photoreceptors went dark.

The apprentice allowed himself a smile of satisfaction, before he stepped through the hole in the elevator door that the titan created earlier. He followed it, and engaged the elevator, which was a platform that had seen better days. When it arrived at the top, he stepped through the door and found himself in a place he had never dreamed of entering, even a bizarre recreation of it.

At the very top of the junk Temple's middle tower was a junk High Council Chamber, complete with mannequins of long-gone Jedi Masters. Starkiller knew all their names; they were burned into his brain, those enemies of the Emperor that the Clone Army, and soon his Master, had defeated in the final days of the Clone Wars. They sat on thrones or ordinary chairs, their dead eyes staring at him as he stalked into the room.

"You dare enter the Jedi Temple. You have made your last mistake, Sith!" A raspy voice echoed through the chamber.

But before Starkiller could point out how ridiculous that first statement was, a short gray figure with a long-skull shot out of nowhere, plunging his blade into the floor, and emitted a force blast that sent Starkiller flying into the door he just exited. He then straightened back up to see what he was up against.

"Kazdan Paratus," said Starkiller. "At last."

The minuscule being looked at him with darting, paranoid eyes. A member of the Aleena species, Paratus was short, and had a large skull, with bright eyes and long agile fingers. He was held up by four spider-like robot legs that were connected to a harness around his torso. He was armed with a blue lightsaber pike. He raised it as the limbs raised him to human height.

"Don't worry, Masters," he hissed in a voice that was raspy, and high-pitched, but full of contempt. "I'll defend you from this Sith Trash!"

The apprentice didn't know who he was talking to until a clamor rose from the seated mannequins and, as one, the junk Jedi Council woke.

Paratus lunged lunged while the apprentice was momentarily distracted. The pike left a shallow cut down his left forearm before he could repulse the strange creature's attack. Part flesh and part machine, the renegade Jedi Master was proficient with the Force, and quick with it as well. Every blow the apprentice tried to make was instantly blocked by either end of the whirling pike. As fast as he lunged or retreated, the mechanical legs outpaced him. Paratus hopped around the run-down chamber like a deranged spider.

So the apprentice decided that it was time for the Jedi to hold still. He sent Sith lightning hurtling toward the little Jedi, who screamed and withered in pain, before he fell off of the wall he had been clambering to. He hit the ground like a rock, and before he could get back up, Starkiller used the Force to levitate the small, and deranged, Jedi before smashing him into the chamber walls.

He then smashed him into the ground. He then walked over to the twitching Jedi, smiling. '_This fight was going to be over before it started,_' Starkiller thought before he raised his blade over his head, ready to end the Jedi's miserable existence.

But then something struck him from behind, breaking his concentration and knocking his lightsaber from his hand. He turned, ducking robotic limbs and a sudden swipe from the light-pike of a rejuvenated Paratus. The robotic mannequin of Plo Koon had risen from its chair and attacked him, holding a long vibro-blade in a crude approximation of the long-dead Jedi Master's renowned lightsaber style. The Way of the Krayt Dragon, it had once been called. It looked ridiculous in the hands of a patchwork droid.

Still, it had taken him by surprise. Starkiller acknowledged the gambit before blowing the droid to pieces and reaching for his fallen lightsaber. The hilt arrived in his hand just in time to deflect another blow from Paratus, fully recovered from his brief time as Starkiller's lightning covered rag doll.

This time the apprentice was ready for the attacks from behind. One at a, or occasionally in pairs, the mannequins moved in to distract him.

Mace Windu and Coleman Kcaij he dismembered.

Kit Fisto he melted.

Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi he smashed together and hurled out the window.

Ki-Adi-Mundi he blasted with lightning before doing the same to Saesee Tiin, Agen Kolar, and Shaak Ti. Stass Allie he beheaded with a single stroke of his lightsaber.

Kazdan Paratus moaned as each junk Master fell, mourning them as though they were actually alive. When the last one went down, he was actually weeping.

And finally, junk Yoda he picked up with the Force, shocked it with lightning, and used as a sort of Sith energy grenade to strike Paratus through his flailing artificial limbs, which caused him to fall off of the ceiling he had been clambering to to launch debris from.

Starkiller reached out and caught the falling Aleena Jedi in a tight Force grip. He crushed the robot limb harness, before lifting the diminutive alien into the air and smashing him into the window frames and roof until rubble rained down on them both. Soon the aging Jedi was too weak to fight, but still the apprentice continued battering him.

Finally, the Jedi Master's strength was spent. The apprentice let him drop to the ground, where he was pinned by an avalanche of junk falling through the ceiling. Clearly dying, he lay faceup and closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Masters," he lamented. "I've ... failed you . . . again."

With those words, he expired.

For a moment the apprentice felt pity. But he quickly swallowed it down. Undoubtedly mad, Paratus was still a Jedi. His freedom had come to an end, along with his life.

He used the force to summon Paratus' broken light-pike to him, before he raised his comlink. "Juno, I'm done here."

"_I have a lock on your location, Starkiller. On my way_."

The whining of the starship's engines was loud by the time he retraced his steps through the foyer and out onto the surface of the junk world. The _Rogue Shadow_ swooped smoothy out of the sky. Catching the ramp sure-footedly, he retreated gratefully inside.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

_Phoenix Home, Rebel Flagship_.

Ahsoka jumped into the cockpit of the Ghost's shuttle, the _Phantom_, which was the part of the ship an Imperial tracker had been attached to.

The communicator on the control console began to chirp. She answered it, and a foot-tall image of Hera Syndulla, and another one of Commander Sato, appeared before her.

"Commander, I'm ready for take off to the Felucia system as we planned." Ahsoka said.

"_Ahsoka, please reconsider." _Hera pleaded_. "We can just destroy the tracker and be done with it."_

_"I agree with Captain Syndulla." _Sato said_. "I believe you are putting your life in danger needlessly. The Empire will hunt you down_."

"I appreciate the concern, but this is bigger than anyone of us." Ahsoka reasoned as she primed the ship for take-off. "I'm going to lead the Empire right to me. With any luck, I'll draw the Sith out of hiding, and I'll find out what they're planning, even if I have to coerce them."

"Very well. We're still against this plan, but you will do what you must." Sato said.

"Good hunting. And may the Force be with you." Hera said, bowing her head gently, along with Sato.

Ahsoka nodded, and turned off the comm. She then gently slid the _Phantom_ out of its hold, and flew out the hanger bay. She punched in the co-ordinates to the Felucia system and engaged the hyperdrive. The stars elongated, and she was shot off into Hyperspace.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

_Rogue Shadow, Raxus Orbit_.

As they reached for orbit, Starkiller watched the Temple retreat behind him until the outline of its ludicrous grandeur was barely discernible among the surrounding junk hills. He could have knocked the ridiculous toy castle down around Kazdan's ears with one Force push. If only it had been so easy for his Master to erase the Jedi from the galaxy. Years after the Purge, here he was continuing that great work. Perhaps it would be finished in his lifetime. Perhaps he had already killed the last of the remaining Jedi. Perhaps now his Master would regard him as truly worthy.

He retured to his shadowy meditation chamber to tend to his wounds and restore his strength. Instead of meditating, however, he devoted an hour to repairing Kazdan Paratus's light-pike, snapped in two when he had clutched the tiny Jedi Master so hard. _Trying_ to repair it, at least. No matter how painstakingly he worked, he couldn't realign the focusing crystals with the lens assembly. Nor could he make the emitter matrix connect to the power conduit. Like everything on Raxus Prime, the pike had become worthless junk.

Or, he told himself, there was something getting in the way of his concentration.

_'Is it my new pilot?'_ he wondered. She was quick and efficient, as she should be, but she also made an effort to come across as lighthearted, and that was having an effect on him he hadn't foreseen. He had praised her good work after Nar Shaddaa and had felt glad to be aboard after finishing off Kazdan Paratus. _Praise _and_ gladness_ were not encouraged by followers of the dark side. The Emperor help him if they were developing a _rapport_.

He would deal with his new emotions as he had dealt with other challenges he had faced. At the same time, he would watch her closely. Rapports weren't one-sided things. If her feelings of bonhomie became stronger and she couldn't keep her sociability under control, he would have to take action.

As he pondered what form that action might take, the sound of heavy breathing rose up behind him. The pieces of the light-pike fell apart and scattered across the floor. The apprentice sensed rather than saw a darker shadow enter the chamber. He looked up expectantly.

There was no face visible in the silhouette of the Dark Lord, but that had never made a difference.

"Kazdan Paratus is dead, Master."

The domed head, blacker than night, nodded. "Then there is but one more test before you can fulfill your destiny."

One More. Would there always be one more?

"Master, I am ready now."

"No. You have defeated an old man and an outcast." Anger cracked like a whip in Darth Vader's vocoderized voice. "You will not be ready to face the Emperor until you have faced a true test."

The apprentice squared his jaw, thinking of the pathetic imitations he had faced in the Junk Temple. "Who?"

"Ahsoka Tano... the apprentice of Anakin Skywalker." There was a pause, and a grudging respect in his Master's voice, mixed with unmasked contempt. "She is providing intelligence to the rebel cells, searching for renegade Jedi to recruit, and is now training an army on Felucia. You will need the full power of the dark side to defeat her. Do not disappoint me."

"No, Lord Vader. I will not."

The robed shadow dissolved into static. The hologram fell away, revealing PROXY's skinny frame beneath. The droid shuddered, and the apprentice was instantly at his side to steady him.

Together the two of them left the meditation chamber to give Juno the news of their third and most deadly mission.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**Well folks, that was part 4 of this story.**

**Hope you enjoyed.**

**I'll have part 5 out as soon as possible.**

**Until next time, Grubkiller out.**


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